Nine Tails Fury
by TJchaos
Summary: A NaruHina story. What happens when Naruto opens the eight celestial gates combined with most of the Kyuubi's chakra? Thinking that Hinata died in his arms during a massive battle pushes him over the edge and makes some rather large changes in his life.
1. Chapter 1 Introduction

Nine Tails Fury

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

As I said in the summary I reference parts from the filler episodes and stuff that has been happening in the Manga up to the latest ch. (350), so there will be some spoilers for those not current on the latest manga. This story takes place immediately after the events in Kohona shown in ch. 350.

10-24-07 replaced original ch. 1 with expanded version.

Ch. 1

It was all beginning to slowly eat away at him. He continued to put up his brash front whenever anyone else was around but inside things only got worse. Having the cast removed from his arm earlier in the week hadn't helped. His arm was still covered in bandages that itched a bit, just another constant reminder. Naruto stumbled a bit as he walked aimlessly through the village. He was haunted by the darkness. It was there constantly, just at the very edge of his awareness. He had thought that he had conquered it long ago but now, just when everything was supposed to be going his way he felt it coming back. All the loneliness from his younger days was slowly coming back to him. He could feel the distance between himself and his precious people grow ever so slightly every single day. It was even worse this time because he knew that he was the one putting that distance there.

'His new jutsu was no good.'

Sakura tried to tell him so at the hospital. Kakashi sensei then started to tell him the other night at Ichiraku Ramen and he bulled past his sensei's words. Tsunade herself finally visited him and told him to never use it again. All that time, the weeks that had been like decades, had become pointless. The others tried to reassure him from time to time. They tried to tell him that he was becoming a powerful wind master but every time he looked in the mirror he saw failure and felt useless. Even his victory over that Kakuzu zombie thing had slowly soured in his mind. What was the point he often asked himself, if he had such great power, if using it did nearly as much damage to himself as his opponent. Again, AGAIN! The only reason why he was likely still breathing was that damn fox.

'He had hurt Sakura, just like he had hurt Jiraiya.'

'The one who hurt Sakura…was you Naruto.' The words of sensei Yamato haunted him. He had lost a lot of sleep over those words. There had been many nights that he had woken in a cold sweat, gasping in fear. Some nights he would wake several times. Although the marks were gone he could still vividly see his claw marks on her arm every time he looked at her. The nightmares seemed to only be getting worse. His heart sank every time he thought of her now. He could have killed her then. He hadn't realized it but he had forced himself not to think about that by burying himself into his training. Now with all the extra time he had to himself waiting for his arm to heal, he hadn't stopped thinking about how easily he could have killed Sakura. All those years, he had thought he had loved her so much and would have done anything to make her happy. Now all he could think was how that could be true if the fox could make him hurt her and he had not even realized what he had done. He must have been right when Tsunade had first come to Konoha. Sakura was better off with Sasuke. Over the years he had forced himself to stop thinking that almost immediately but now, now things were different.

Sasuke.

'He was still weaker than Sasuke.'

How could he become Hokage if he couldn't save his first friend. That was what he had thought just the other day. Now Orochimaru was dead and apparently his friend didn't need to be saved. Maybe he needed to be saved even more and Naruto wouldn't be able to. Just another example of how worthless he was.

He had hurt two of his most precious people. Who would be next? Again he stumbled, his mind kept going back to that and he felt sick to his stomach. That was odd since he hadn't eaten at all today and to tell the truth he hadn't been eaten much at all these past few days. He had tried staying in his apartment and thought about pretending to be truly sick but Sakura would have stopped by sooner or later and she would know he wasn't sick. He would have to face her again. He fought back the acidic taste that started to rise in his throat and he rubbed his adams apple. What if he hadn't struck her arm but had struck her throat, he thought darkly. A vision of himself standing over her with her throat torn out popped into his mind. He was all too familiar with that image, it was the one that almost always woke him late at night. Although some nights it was far worse, the times that horrorific scene didn't wake him and the nightmare would continue after Sakura's death. Those nights were the worst. Those nightmares always ended with him screaming himself awake after everyone he cared for was dead at his hands. The smallest whimper escaped from his voice and his head swam as he imagined the light fading from her eyes and her brilliant red blood flowing into the ground. He felt even sicker now and he leaned against a tree so he wouldn't fall down.

'The origin of your strength is not the Kyuubi chakra. But what allows you to endure the Kyuubi chakra…is the strength of your own chakra.' Yamato sensei's words bubbled up through the haze.

The strength of my own chakra? He suddenly stopped his aimless wandering that had almost led to Ichiraku Ramen. A look of grim determination settled onto his face as he stood in the middle of the street. He looked at the Ichiraku sign. He knew he should eat if only to keep going but he knew that anything he ate wouldn't stay down as long as that last vision stayed so vivid in his mind. He needed something new to bury himself into, something that would take as much effort as building the Rasen-Shuriken. He had one really good idea on exactly where to start looking for that something. He suddenly changed directions and started heading to the edge of the village, never noticing the shadowed figure of Hinata following him.

She was very worried about him. She knew that something was bothering him and it was much worse than the time he was looking down just before his match with Neji all those years ago. She was torn by her conflicting feelings. She had never seen him like this and she ached to be able to find the courage to approach him and offer her help. She had come so far in so many ways, in large part because of him. Yet now when he so obviously needed someone she was nearly paralyzed with fear. She stole one glance back to Ichiraku and couldn't believe that something could bother Naruto so much he would avoid his favorite ramen shop. The fear gripped her heart. She suddenly felt that in the state he was in now any mistake she made talking to him would be greatly magnified. She couldn't bear the thought of trying to reach out to him now only to have her stutter betray her. She activated her Byakugan and drifted back slightly so she could follow him with less risk of him discovering that he was being followed. Part of her knew though that he was so troubled that she could probably walk directly behind him and not be noticed.

It wasn't long before he found himself at Rock Lee's dojo and he began pounding on the door, causing it to rattle ominously in a short amount of time.

"LEE! LEE! Open the door! I need your help!"

"Naruto! Its good to see you my friend. Although I would appreciate it if you didn't break my door." Lee exclaimed as he opened the door with a smile.

"Lee, you did something back during the chuunin exam when you fought Gaara that I want you to teach me!" Naruto immediately jumped right to what he wanted.

"You actually remember something that far back Naruto?" Lee said with a teasing smile. He looked into Narutos eyes and saw something unsettling. Suddenly he had a bad feeling about this conversation and was hoping to side track his friend. "I thought you weren't very good at remembering stuff."

Naruto scowled before looking sad and speaking softly he said. "Lee, I had a pretty lousy life up until I became a genin. I guess I usually felt that most things just weren't worth remembering, it was a bad habit. I have been getting better though, training with Jiraiya has helped. Since I became a genin my life may have gotten harder in a lot of ways but it also got better, so there's plenty worth remembering now. Having friends really helps, you know."

"Yes Naruto I know what you mean."

There was a short silent pause between them.

"Anyway." Naruto broke the silence. "You were fighting Gaara and it looked like he had you beat but you did something that let you bounce back and really press him hard. I asked Sakura later about it and she said it involved gates or something. I need to be stronger and I think that could help, could you teach me?"

"I'm sorry Naruto but I can't. It is a forbidden jutsu."

"I had a feeling but I need more strength to catch up to Sasuke! I have to keep my promise to Sakura-chan and bring him back, even if he's become a world class asshole."

"You seem very angry with him Naruto, almost like you don't want to bring him back."

"Just because he's the first real friend I ever had doesn't mean I can't be pissed off at him. How can I become Hokage if I can't save my friend, besides you know I can't break that promise to Sakura."

"I thought you were madly in love with her yourself Naruto. Do you really want two rivals for her affections?" Again Lee smiled as he tried to tease his friend and sidetrack him away from thinking about the jutsu he wanted. Talking about Sakura had always side tracked Naruto in the past.

"Lee, don't get me wrong I do love her but it's not like that for me anymore." Naruto said as he looked down, his stomach twisted as again he got the vision of his claw marks on her arm. "Sakura is more like a sister to me now. Even if her feelings for Sasuke change she would never love me like that."

Narutos voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. "I don't think anyone should love me like that anymore." His voice rose again and neither of them noticed Hinata fade deeper into the shadows of the nearby trees before she turned and ran away.

"Besides if there's anyone Sakura likes other than Sasuke, its you Lee." He finally finished.

"Me!?" The green clad ninjas eyes grew wide. He was a little stunned about what Naruto had told him about the flowers and he had completely missed Narutos whisper. Hearing Narutos opinion of Sakura's feelings towards him had shaken Lee's world.

"Of course you fool, even I know that one. Didn't she ever tell you that all the flowers you got at the hospital were from her? Anyway I need to get stronger and I need greater chakra control."

"Well, umm, uh." Lee was more than a bit dazed now. "Oh yeah, for chakra control you should see Neji or Hinata."

"No! I won't put Hinata at risk!" His determination even surprised himself. His voice steadied and lowered. "She's a lot stronger than most people would ever guess. Stronger than Sakura in many ways but I don't think she's strong enough to help me with this and I'm sure Neji isn't. Besides I've been working with Kakashi sensei and Yamato sensei in that area, it's the raw power part that I'm really concerned with."

"Wait, you think Hinata is stronger than Neji?" Lee paused. "You think I'm stronger than Neji?" Now he felt doubly dazed between that and what Naruto said about Sakura liking him.

"Well you're strong enough or rather more importantly you are fast enough with your speed. If anything really bad happens you should be able to out run me anyway."

"Really bad? Naruto what do you mean?"

"I…" Naruto paused. "Lee you really don't want to know. After the time we saved Gaara from the Akatsuki a few months back we had a follow up mission to get some information on Orichimaru. Well we actually ran into Orichimaru, things got ugly and I hurt Sakura. That's why I need your help and why I can't ask Hinata or any of the others, even Neji. You're the only one who might teach me this. Kakashi sensei and none of the others would, it has got to be you."

"You hurt Sakura?" Lee asked with a tinge of cold anger creeping into his voice.

"Lee…" Naruto looked down in shame. "I'm serious, you really don't want to know. I need more power to keep something else in its place. Right now Sasuke is more of a cover for my seeking greater power."

"Naruto, I don't know, it is forbidden for a reason."

Naruto looked directly into his friends eyes. "Lee I need more power so that never happens ever again. I don't want to ever hurt any of my friends ever again. Surely you can understand that."

Lee looked at Naruto and realized that nothing, not even the Hokage herself, would stop him in this quest if that was his reason.

"O.K. Naruto, I will try."

"One more thing." Naruto pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "If I start to lose it, slap this seal on my forehead. Immediately."

Lee looked confused but took the seal and looked at it. "Naruto, I've never seen anything quite like this. It looks like a very powerful seal that was made just for you."

"Jiraiya made it. It works with my necklace. Although its better to have sensei Yamato around." Naruto looked at Lee. "If it fails, just run Lee, drop your weights and run. Find Kakashi and Yamato but don't stick around. Please, you've got to promise me that you will drop your weights and run."

"Drop my weights? Sure Naruto, whatever you say." Lee paused, puzzled and disturbed by all that Naruto had told but he took a deep breath and began. "Well what you're talking about is called the Eight Inner Gates and they're basically limiters on the amount of chakra flow in your body. If you learn how to open them…"

Naruto spent the rest of the day listening to Lee and trying to learn what his friend was telling him. Lee was stunned to see Naruto call up 100 shadow clones each time Lee made a point, disperse them after he worked on that point and then call them up again for each new point. After seeing this several times with no sign of fatigue in Naruto, Lee was troubled. He simply couldn't figure out how much more power Naruto could possibly need. Lee had virtually no chakra himself but he had spent a lot of time studying chakra in others. The sheer amount of chakra Naruto was using without any sign of fatigue was staggering and even a little frightening.

Lee had also spent a lot of time reading about the Sand-Sound invasion, most especially anything about Gaara. He had been stunned that day to learn that Naruto had defeated Neji. He also had trouble coming to grips with how Sasuke faced Gaara before the genjutsu had knocked him out. It had taken a lot of time and persistence but after nearly a year and a half he had found the final report that had detailed the battle that led to Gaara's defeat. He had always had trouble believing the report, especially since the best account was from Kakashi-sensei's ninja hound Pakkun. Naruto oddly enough had never bragged about the fight or gave any really solid details about it when debriefed. Sasuke never said anything either before he ran away, as far as Lee knew and his official debriefing was nearly as sparse as Narutos. Sakura was unconscious for the final fight and the only other witness was the Sand kunoichi Temari, who also never gave any real details about the fight but she did say that Pakkuns report was correct. Reading about hundreds or possibly thousands of clones, Gaara turning into a giant sand monster and the giant toad Gamabunta had simply seemed too unreal when it was all tied to a not quite 13 year old Naruto. Working with Naruto now and seeing how effortlessly he worked with hundreds of clones finally convinced Lee that the report he had read was in fact true.

Hinata had stopped running and found herself a short time later in one of her 'sanctuaries'. She was somewhat devastated from what she had just learned. Although often tempted she really didn't follow Naruto around. She would covertly watch him any time they were in the same area but she really didn't follow him. Every time she did watch him she was waging a fierce internal battle within herself between her desire to talk to him and her fear that she would mess up somehow and he would dislike her. Even though she knew that he would never really dislike any one of his friends no matter what, she wanted more than friendship from him. The few times she had actually followed him was always due to something extraordinary. She had followed him around the village when she heard rumors of him having a 'baby'. That had turned out rather embarrassing. She had followed him to the exit of Konoha when he left with Jiraiya years ago. She had been very upset with herself for a very long time after that because she hadn't been able to summon the courage to even do something as simple as say goodbye.

Nothing she had ever seen in Naruto in the past had ever been as bad as today. She had seen him upset on a few occasions and it never seemed to last very long. The only time that even came close to comparing to the state she had seen him in today was when he didn't graduate from the academy. That had lasted less than a day before he had somehow turned the tables and got his hitai-ate. None of their classmates had ever found out how he had done that, to her knowledge anyway. This time it was obvious to her that he hadn't been eating properly for a few days. She didn't think anything could turn off Narutos appetite like that.

After seeing his current state along with watching him turn away from Ichiraku's was enough for her to overcome her hesitant nature concerning Naruto and follow him to find out more. She sat at the edge of the pool near a small water fall that was within one of Konohas outer and less often used training grounds. Being near waters like this pool and water fall, almost always made her feel better. There was a small pond and small artificial water fall in the Hyuga gardens. Her mother had brought her there often before she died and being near water with her mother were some of her earliest memories.

Now she was at a total loss on even what to think, let alone what to do. She was still trying to come to terms with the fact that Naruto believed that nobody should love him. How could he possibly have come to that conclusion she kept wondering. Naruto had said that he loved Sakura like a sister. For a brief moment her spirit soared when those words processed in her head. That quick flash of excruciating pain that appeared on his face as he said that though completely baffled her though. To hear him whisper that he didn't think anyone should love him had brought her spirit crashing down. Something devastating had happened to him. With a grim determination she decided that she was going to find out what it was and no matter what she was going to help him. He never really knew how much he had helped her and now she felt he needed someone to help him more than he ever had before. Her determination settled into her face and she suddenly felt calm.


	2. Chapter 2 Heading out

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

This chapter took a bit longer than I wanted and I'm not sure if I'm happy with it or not. Still getting used to the ins and outs of FanFiction here, feel like an idiot for misspelling Konoha in the Ch. 1 A/N but didn't feel like going through the hassle of fixing it since I didn't see it until after it was posted. Figure I'm going to leave it like that as a reminder to myself.

Most of Ch. 3 is done, I have to write one of the beginning scenes, it ought to be up tomorrow night with luck.

Ch. 2

Not quite a week had passed. Naruto was irritated with himself over his lack of success opening the eight inner gates. The lack of sleep probably wasn't helping. So far he'd only been able to open the first one. Doing this project in secret along with a couple of others he had going wasn't helping. He was taking a break and eating some instant ramen in a cup while reading a pilfered scroll when someone knocked on the door.

"One second." He mumbled loudly through a mouth full of noodles as he hurriedly buried the scroll in a pile of typical jutsu scrolls he always had lying about his small apartment. It was for another one of his 'secret' projects. Although the way he'd been feeling lately he hadn't done anything more than sneakily get some scrolls and partially read them. He glanced at the pile of scrolls figured the ones to worry about were reasonably hidden, jumped up and opened the door.

"Sakura-chan. What's up?" He beamed his typical smile for her, despite still imagining his claw marks on her arm. He also fought a strong urge to panic and glance at the pile of scrolls.

"Come on, we've been ordered to see the Hokage. At least you're awake before noon this time. Looks like we've got a mission." His friend returned his smile as she grabbed his undamaged arm and pulled him out of his apartment much to his relief.

"But, but Kakashi sensei, Yamato sensei and Sai are out on a mission, I thought we would be staying home for a little while." He stumbled over his words as Sakura dragged him along. He really didn't want to go out on a mission without one of his sensei's.

"I'm sure Tsunade-sama will have everything taken care of."

It didn't take long for the two friends to get to the Hokages office. As they walked in Naruto was slightly stunned to see Hinata and Jiraiya already there.

"Ero-sennin? You're still here?" Naruto was greatly relieved to see Jiraiya and slightly nervous at the presence of Hinata. Naruto smiled at her and she averted her eyes but not before he saw a look of sadness in them. He couldn't quite puzzle it out exactly why but this was somehow different from the glimpses he caught all the other times Hinata averted her gaze.

"No time for getting reacquainted Naruto, you can do that on the mission." Tsunade scolded him. "There's a chance that this is one is actually going to be two C-rank missions. I have some sensitive documents for the Kazekage. You're to head to Suna, meet the Kazekage, hand the documents over personally and then if needed help Sakura gather certain herbs that grow along the Northern border of Wind. Most likely Suna will already have many of the plants that Sakura is looking for. If they have everything on her list you can return home, otherwise stay in the field until you find everything on that list. Make sure you get the written permission of the Kazekage though before you go wandering around the country of Wind. Hinata will be joining you as well. The gardens of Suna aren't likely to have everything, with the rest of her team out on other missions she's available and she'll be a big help to Sakura."

"I don't know granny-Tsunade, are you sure that Hinata should come with us? Do you really want her exposed to the likes of Ero-sennin here? Sakura at least is used to him, sort of, you know and she's almost as strong as you are. So he isn't likely to try anything on her but I'm not so sure he can be trusted with two attractive young woman."

"Will you just die already." Jiraiya hit Naruto on his head knocking him to the ground as both of the girls blushed, Sakura slightly and Hinata brightly. "And would you please knock it off with the 'ero-sennin', I am the wise and powerful 'Toad Sage'".

"As much as I hate to admit it, you do have something of a point but all four of you are going and that's final. If Suna doesn't have everything we need Sakura will need Hinatas help to find the plants we need, now go get ready." Tsunade answered.

_'Naruto said I was attractive! But it's obvious he doesn't want me on the mission.'_ Hinata thought to herself as she was both elated and deflated by her thoughts. As she thought back to what Tsunade had told her before Naruto and Sakura arrived. _'I'm backing up Jiraiya-sama to scout out one of Orochimaru's lairs. Even though Orochimaru is supposedly dead Tsunade-sama thinks it's still dangerous even for Jiraiya-sama. Not even Sakura is to know, although I think the whole helping to find special plants excuse is a little thin. I think I need more information.'_

Naruto hung back as Tsunade dismissed them and the other three began to leave the Hokages office, when they turned to look back at him he waved them off.

"Yes Naruto?" Tsunade asked suspiciously.

"Um, Tsunade-sama." Naruto began.

"Finally, a little respect from you? This ought to be good, what do you want Naruto? It's got to be something."

"Well, are you sure about Hinata or even Sakura? I'm sure Jiraiya and I could do this mission without them. He probably knows plants and stuff pretty well."

Tsunade's gaze softened. "I see…this is really about the time you fought Orochimaru isn't it?" She asked.

"Well yeah, I guess so." Naruto shuffled in place uncomfortably while he looked down shamefully and slightly embarrassed.

"Listen don't worry so much about it, Jiraiya will keep an eye on you. Besides you two idiots would have a hard time finding sand in the desert if you were on your own. Now get out of here and go get ready."

Naruto scurried out of Tsunades office and ran down the hall colliding with Jiraiya as he rounded a corner.

"Hey, calm down a bit Naruto." The Toad Sage looked Naruto over. "So what's on your mind that you needed to talk to Tsunade privately?"

"Just stuff." Naruto shuffled around a bit squirming under his teachers gaze.

"Stuff eh? You seem a bit overly concerned about the girls kiddo. I don't think they figured that out but I probably know you better than anyone."

"Yeah well that scar on your chest should make anyone pause and now Sakura might have her own from me on her arm. I don't want to cause any more of those."

"Well you know we'll do our best, keep calm, stick with me and everything will be fine." Jiraiya smiled as he spoke.

Just around another corner stood Hinata. She felt slightly ashamed to have once again eavesdropped on Naruto but she felt that there was too much going on that she didn't know and she especially wanted to know what was bothering him so much. There was also too many secrets on such an apparently simple mission. What she heard between Jiraiya and Naruto puzzled her greatly.

Leaving Konoha and traveling the three days to Suna was uneventful. Naruto and Jiraiya constantly bickered, Sakura was unusually quiet and Hinata was typically reserved. Although Hinata, covertly of course, spent a great deal of her time completely enthralled watching the relationship between Jiraiya and Naruto.

---ooo---

Gaara was having a busy day as Kazekage and didn't have much time for them. They handed over the pouch full of documents. Gaara shook Narutos hand with a smile, seeming to enjoy making Naruto uncomfortable with that small token of friendship, which Hinata found rather odd. One of the many aides bustling in and out was told to take them to one of the guest suites. Jiraiya spoke briefly with Gaara before allowing the aid to lead them out. As soon as they left the Kazekage building Sakura split off from the others.

"I've got something to take care of I'll meet up with you shortly." She said as she waved and walked away.

It didn't take long for the rest of them to be shown where they'd be staying while in Suna. It was a nice suite with two bedrooms, each with its own bath. There was a large common area along with a small but fully equipped kitchen and eating area.

"Not bad, not quite as good as the dignitaries get and not even close to what a visiting Lord or Lady would receive but not bad." Jiraiya said with a smile.

"Where do you think Sakura went?" Hinata asked.

"Probably the cemetery." Naruto answered.

"The cemetery?"

"She became very attached to one of Suna's village elders last time we were here and is probably visiting Chiyo-samas grave."

"Chiyo?" Jiraiya mumped in. "The puppet master with a gift for poisons?"

"Yeah that's the one. Did you know her?" Naruto asked his sensei.

"Personally no but I'm pretty sure that during one of the wars she and Tsunade grew to hate each other greatly."

"Well we should go find Sakura and see about dinner."

"Excuse me are you Naruto?" A small child approached the orange and black clad ninja.

"Eh? Of course I am!"

"Thank Naruto-san for saving Gaara-sama." The small child handed Naruto a small flower, turned and ran off into the crowd.

"What?" Naruto stood there stunned, holding the flower as he watched the child disappear into the crowd.

"I guess a lot of people know how you helped save Gaara. He's become quite popular with the younger people of this village you know." Jiraiya smiled.

The trio turned and entered the cemetery. Sakura was easy to spot off to the far edge.

"Sakura! Come on lets go! We're going to get something to eat." Naruto yelled out.

"Fool!" Jiraiya hissed. "This is a cemetery keep your voice down."

It didn't take long for Sakura to walk up and glare at Naruto. The four wound their way through the streets of Suna with the three teenagers giving Jiraiya the lead. It didn't take long for Jiraiya to locate a restaurant he deemed suitable. Dinner was an oddly quiet time. Naruto seemed to have finally learned not to complain, at least not out loud when a meal wasn't ramen. Most of the food was a bit spicier than what was typical in Konoha but quite tasty and filling. They wandered a bit through Suna but they were all tired from the journey so they headed back to their suite. Sakura and Hinata decided to wash up a bit while Jiraiya headed off to the room he was sharing with Naruto to get some writing in. Naruto decided to stretch out and relax in the common area. Several minutes went by as he was fiddling with the small flower while seemingly half asleep .

"Naruto if you want to save that, I, I can show you how." Hinata said with a slight stutter as she entered the common area.

"Oh! Sure Hinata." Naruto exclaimed as he popped out of his slight daze.

"We'll need a book."

"Hey Ero-sennin! We need one of your spare books. Hinata found a way to actually make one of those dirty books useful.

Naruto glanced over with a smile at the blushing Hinata and his eyes grew wide.

"Hinata! I, well, I mean, umm, I, I didn't mean that you would want to read one of his trashy novels or anything like that!" Naruto looked close to panic as Hinatas blush grew brighter.

"What's that? Jiraiya entered the common area with a lecherous grin.

"I was just going to show Naruto how to press his flower so he could keep it Jiraiya-sama." Hinata said quietly as she looked down to hide her blush.

"Press his flower? You two have got to be two of the most boring teenagers I've ever even heard of. Although Tsunade would kill me for…" Jiraiya was actually scowling as he left the room still muttering about his own death and Tsuande.

"I'm sorry Hinata, I should have known better with him."

"That's o.k. Naruto I really don't mind."

"Here you go, I actually had a blank book. Now none of us have to worry about anything." Jiraiya said as he re-entered the common area.

Hinata took the book, took the small flower from Naruto, placed it roughly in the middle of the book and closed it.

"It really should be a heavier book to properly press the flower." She said with a slight blush as she handed the book to Naruto.

"Thanks Hinata, this is great."

"O.K. enough you two. We're going to get an early start tomorrow so it's off to bed. Come on Naruto. Hinata tell Sakura that we'll be receiving the plants and herbs we were looking fore on our way out tomorrow." Jiraiya said as he left.

"Hai, Jiraiya-sama." She answered.

"Well good night Hinata, thanks again." Naruto said as he turned to the bedroom

"You're welcome Naruto-kun, good night." Hinata stood there staring at the bedroom door Naruto had gone through before breathing a small sigh and heading into the 'girls' room.

The next morning Jiraiya was good on his word, waking his three young charges and getting them going before sunrise. They were able to actually use the small kitchen to prepare a light breakfast before heading out. About halfway to the gate they ran into Gaara who apparently had been waiting for them.

"I'm sorry I don't have more time. Jiraiya-san let me know yesterday that you would be heading out very early. Here's everything we had that was on your list Sakura. One of the herbalists left a list of the missing ones inside. I also brought your passes." He said as the four approached and he handed a package to Sakura before turning and handing some papers to Jiraiya.

"Thank you Gaara-sama." Sakura said with a slight bow.

"That's o.k., it's still good to see you." Naruto jumped in as he peered closely at his friend. "You should stop by Konoha soon. You know those bags around your eyes are fading."

"Yes without Shukaku I can finally sleep peacefully."

"Cool, remember what I said though, you should visit us when you get a chance."

"I'll keep that in mind." Gaara reached out his hand and this time Naruto grasped it without hesitation.

"See you soon then."

The four turned and headed off while Gaara smiled just a bit as he watched his friend leave.

They traveled almost directly North and slightly to the West for almost two whole days until they got to the edge of a large forest.

"Trees? I thought most of Wind Country is desert. We aren't at the border yet are we." Naruto piped up looking confused.

"Actually a good chunk is heavily forested, especially near Bird Country, along their Northern border."

"Jiraiya-sama." Hinata whispered and nodded slightly.

"Hmmm." The sannin concentrated along the direction Hinata indicated. "Looks like a Sand ninja patrol."

A few moments passed and four Sand ninja appeared before them, three of which looked very young.

"You guys are a little off of and of the trade routes that visiting ninja are supposed to stick to while in Wind. You're even further than most from Konoha ought to be." The older and obviously lead ninja spoke as he warily eyed Jiraiya and the three Leaf ninja.

"That's quite alright." Jiraiya said as he walked forward and pulled out the papers Gaara had given him. "We've got dispensation from the Kazekage to look for some special herbs near the Northern border of Wind Country."

The leader took the papers and looked them over.

"Good everything looks like it's in order thankfully. By the look of you guys the last thing I'd want to get into would be a fight with you while I've got a bunch of green genin on their first patrol."

"That's understandable. How far are we from the border anyway?" Jiraiya asked.

"Its about 40 kilometers or so further along. It's been pretty quiet lately, we've finished our sweep and are heading home ourselves now." The older Sand ninja glanced at the papers again and looked up in surprise at Naruto and Sakura. "I didn't realize it was you two. My apologies for the delay."

"Us two?" Naruto asked puzzled.

"Naruto and Sakura. You two were two of the Leaf ninja who helped rescue Gaara-sama." He bowed deeply to the two teenagers. "Thank you."

"It wasn't that big of a deal, I'd do it for any one of my friends."

The older Sand ninja smiled.

"Thank you any way. We do have to go though." With a wave all four Sand ninja faded from sight.

"Don't let that stuff go to your head Naruto." Jiraiya said as he smacked Naruto lightly on his head. "Lets go now I think it's about 5 maybe 6 kilometers more before we can even start looking for what Sakura needs. Looks like we'll get to that area with just enough time to setup camp for the night."

The four headed off expecting to stop in a little less than an hour.


	3. Chapter 3 Battle

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

This was pretty much the original beginning of this story. While I liked everything here it just didn't seem complete without what became the first two chapters. The Jiraiya and Sakura fight scene wasn't there originally either but I felt with the expanded version it had to be added.

Ch. 3

"So is the trap ready?" One shadowed figure in a black cloak with red clouds spoke to another.

"Yes. They've killed too many of us, it's a bad habit that we're going to break. With Orochimaru now gone we were able to acquire many sound ninja for this job along with the many grass and cloud ninja we had already hired. If Kakuzu were still alive he'd be most upset over the expense of this operation. We've also lost track of Itachi's brother but I'm sure we'll be hearing from him soon. With him out for Itachi it is now a priority to deal with these Leaf ninja. All of the hired ninja on this job have very explicit orders not to kill Naruto but I offered 10 million ryu for Jiraiyas head and 5 million for Sakuras." The larger figure draped in black with red clouds replied.

"What about the Hyuga?"

"She really doesn't matter to us. Although I imagine the cloud ninja will be out to capture her for the Byakugan, probably alive. If the grass ninja realize who she is and what she means to the cloud ninja they'll probably kill her and try to destroy her body."

"You don't think they'll try to capture her themselves?"

"No they're too small compared to cloud. They're likely to take a chance to kill her in order to prevent Cloud from gaining the Byakugan. I doubt they're willing to take the risk of upsetting cloud to gain it for themselves."

"Everything sounds good then."

---ooo---

"This looks like a decent spot." Jiraiya said as they entered a wide clearing.

Hinata hesitated, something wasn't quite right. She looked over to Jiraiya who suddenly grew still.

"Byakugan!" She called out. She was stunned to see dozens upon dozens of ninja off in the distance. She looked further and realized they were surrounded.

"Jiraiya-sama!" She said softly but urgently.

"Yeah, I sense them too."

"What's going on?" Naruto and Sakura both asked.

"We're surrounded." Jiraiya whispered. "What do we have Hinata?"

"At least several hundred I would say. There could be many clones but it doesn't matter they've got a tremendous amount of power. I'd say that many if not most of them are Jounin level." Hinata said as she relaxed her Byakugan, it'd take them a minute or so to reach them and she new that she would soon need every scrap of chakra she had.

The four stood in a loose circle, each facing a different direction and waited. It didn't take long before the first attack came. A wave like mass of rolling rock and earth bore down on them. Naruto and Hinata jumped off together in one direction while Sakura and Jiraiya flew the other way. Fire suddenly poured over the first attack and a vortex of water flew towards Sakura and Jiraiya, driving them further away from their two team mates.

As Sakura and Jiraiya readied themselves several tornadoes headed their way. There was an odd shimmering behind the spinning masses of air and lightened crackled within the clouds over the tornadoes.

"Katon! Goukakyuu no jutsu!" Jiraiya yelled out as he generated a massive fireball that impacted most of the approaching tornadoes.

'Damn he's at least as fast as Kakashi is when making seals.' Sakura thought as she watched Jiraiyas hands blur again.

"Fuuton…" Sakura missed the rest of what Jiraiya was saying as the tornadoes and fireball exploded but she knew enough to duck as Jiraiya fired off an incredible mass of destructive air.

"Sakura!" Jiraiya called out as he jumped over to her, grabbing her as his hair expanded and wrapped around the two of them. Sakuras last sight before being enclosed was seeing that the shimmering behind the air and lightning attacks was revealed to be some sort of sonic attack. There was an odd humming as Jiraiyas spiky shield of hair absorbed the sonic attack.

Jiraiya staggered slightly as his hair receded. Apparently with his hair being connected to his head it allowed some of the sonic energy to get to his ears. Before he could shake it off though an unbelievable amount of huge boulders came crashing their way.

_'There's just no way any single ninja could have pulled off such a massive earth attack by themselves.'_ Sakura thought as the uncountable boulders rolled their way. This time it was her turn to grab the slightly stunned Jiraiya. She jumped over to the side a bit and picked one of the larger rocks heading their way. Building up her own ridiculous strength she quickly but carefully eyed the monster rock. Screaming out her free arm blurred as she struck the rock dozens of times in a very precise manner. Both her and Jiraiya were struck many numerous times by a large amount of shrapnel flying off the rock from Sakuras strikes. There was a loud boom as the rock teetered and fell on top of them. Dust billowed out and the area was suddenly still. The ninjas that had been focusing on Sakura and Jiraiya turned to look across the field at their other two targets. As they looked they saw the girl fall.

---ooo---

The battle raged on. Naruto had lost track of Sakura and Jiraiya but Hinata was always nearby. Her arms would blur from time to time and every attack that came close to her failed. Naruto seemed to be everywhere at times and with his shadow clones he pretty much was everywhere at times. Dozens of ninja surrounded the two. Naruto and Hinata found themselves standing back to back.

"Shugo Hakke Rokujyuu Yonshou." She softly spoke as she once again began her ultimate defense.

Naruto began to build up chakra in each hand. "Rasengan." He muttered as a shimmering sphere appeared in each hand.

Shuriken, Kunai, and all manner of weapons were repelled by Hinatas defense as it encompassed herself and Naruto.

"On your right." She whispered.

Taking her cue, Naruto darted out releasing a Rasengan into the chest of one enemy that came within his range. Hinata shifted slightly so he was continuously covered. He quickly formed a new Rasengan and returned to being up against Hinatas back.

"On my left, front and right, low." She said in her soft voice.

Naruto spun and from behind Hinata he reached forward under her arms, he released the two Rasengans. One went to the fist of a cloud ninja and the other to a kicking foot of a grass ninja. Naruto and Hinata easily heard splintering bone as the two Rasengans hit. Pulling his arms back he spun so they were back to back again as he formed two more Rasengans.

"Above on your right." She whispered and he struck.

"Your lower left front."

"My front center."

This odd dance like combination of Hinatas defense and Narutos attack continued to protect them while eliminating another half dozen attacking ninja before the rest stopped and pulled back.

Naruto had never formed so many Rasengans so rapidly before and Hinata had never used her Shugo Hakke Rokujyuu Yonshou for so long before and the strain was especially evident on Hinata.

"HA!" Naruto exclaimed. "We're unbeatable together Hinata." He smiled over his shoulder at the suddenly blushing young woman as they both began to breath heavily from the strain.

More than slightly distracted she faltered and Hinata suddenly fell. She had been using her Shugo Hakke Rokujyuu Yonshou for too long and probably would have fallen soon anyway from exhaustion. One of the seemingly endless attacks struck her with a glancing blow while she was blushing from Narutos words.

Naruto heart grew suddenly still as he watched Hinata fall to the ground beside him, he didn't see that it was a glancing blow, he only saw a lot of blood since it was a messy scalp wound and a terrible anger took him. The foxes chakra shroud enveloped him, immediately springing forth four tails and then it slowly formed a fifth. The chakra seemed to boil as his blood began to flow through his very pores. All consciousness gone he roared at their foes.

A second or two passed. Unnoticed, Hinata shook herself awake as the possessed Naruto leaped over her to attack the closest and therefore most dangerous seeming of all the attacking ninja. She looked on in shock at the sight and even the smell of Narutos blood. The ninja before him fell, she almost gagged when she realized the ninja was now two separate smoldering pieces. Both of Narutos arms suddenly seemed to stretch into unbelievable lengths as he killed at least two more of the surrounding ninja. A massive wave shuriken and kunai was suddenly in the air flying towards them. The possessed Naruto roared and they all vanished into puffs of flame and ash. Hinata gasped as she noticed that most if not all of the bubbles coming through the strange chakra envelope surrounding him would pop when they passed the edge of the envelope and splatter a small amount of Narutos blood. She activated her Byakugan to see what was happening to Naruto and found herself peering into what she felt to be Narutos very soul. She felt pulled into Naruto to find herself in an odd sort of utility tunnel system before a sealed, massive gate.

'_I'm inside Naruto somehow.'_ She thought to herself.

She began to realize as she walked forward and looked through the bars that there was some sort of foul creature locked in behind the bars. A second later she gasped as she realized it was the nine tailed fox demon. Looking deeper into the shadows beyond the bars she was horrified as she realized that Naruto was also within the bars, captive of the evil monster fox.

'_The nine tailed fox is within Naruto?'_ She was confused but so many things were starting to make sense now.

She suddenly remembered his whisper that Lee hadn't heard. _'__I don't think anyone should love me like that anymore.'_

Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought. 'This is why…but, but… I love you Naruto.'

A grim determination took hold of her.

"Let him go!" She screamed at the demon.

**"Hyuga**." The creature replied as it noticed her. **"First an Uchiha, now a Hyuga, of course both families would be able to see me here. Although you…" **The demon paused as it regarded her.** "You shouldn't be able to come here." **It paused again. **"Whatever, this is none of your concern. I am not some caged creature in a zoo to be peered at, not even by the likes of you."**

Nearly blinded by tears she reached for Naruto. The fox demon lashed out at her but the bars separated them.

"I will not let you have him!" She screamed at the monster as she built up her own chakra and ran through the bars.

One of the fox's tails lashed out, knocking her out of the caged area while the demon maintained its grip on Naruto.

"Naruto." She whispered as the tears continued to flow from her eyes. _'Because of Naruto, I never go back on my word. For Naruto I will never give up.'_ She thought to herself as she pulled herself up from the floor.

"You will not have him!" She screamed out. She steadied herself and slowly walked forward. "Shugohakke Rokujyuu Yonshou." She said as she passed the bars again.

The monster lashed out again, fully intending to destroy the young woman but it flinched away from the blue light of her chakra as it suddenly intensified and she blocked one of the monsters striking tails. Again and again the demon struck out at her and each time she parried its attacks as she relentlessly bore down on the fox.

"**You dare challenge me for this whelp? Fine then have him, you have managed to both sicken and amuse me with your love, determination and courage."** The demon hurled Naruto into her, propelling both through the bars to the safety of the open area on the other side of those bars.

"**You have him, now leave my sight Hyuga."**

As they landed Naruto became aware of her and spoke. "Hinata? What are you doing here? How did you even get here?"

Neither of them was able to say anything else as they were suddenly pulled back to the outside world. Naruto stumbled as the demon fox chakra shroud and power disappeared. The last foe in the immediate area found himself suddenly released from the paralyzing fear of seeing the fox chakra shrouded Naruto up close, dodged to the side to avoid Naruto and found Hinata open to attack. The ninja lashed out with a thin metal javelin, striking Hinata in the back. Still shaking from the sight of the possessed Naruto up close, the ninja stumbled on a loose piece of rock that threw his aim off. The javelin shot through her chest, missing her heart but piercing her lung to exit out through the front of her lower rib cage.

"HINATA!" Naruto screamed his strength flaring back to life. He spun, leaping back he struck their foe. The grass ninja was sent hurtling into the distance, disappearing into the trees at the edge of the clearing and Naruto caught Hinata as she fell.

"Naruto." She whispered as she winced in pain.

"Hinata-chan, don't talk, you'll be o.k." The tears in his eyes gave lie to his words."

"Chan?" She coughed up blood but smiled as the minor but precious word crossed her lips. She had longed to hear that one little word from him tied to her name for so many years. "Naruto-chan…" She paused as she coughed up more blood. "Naruto-chan, I, I love you." She looked up into his eyes and reached up as trembling took over her movements to softly touch his cheek as Narutos eyes grew wide. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

Scenes flashed before his eyes.

Hinata at the Chunin exam offering her answers to him.

Hinata giving him the healing salve after his fight with Kiba.

Hinata looking up to him with determination as she faced Neji in the Chunin match.

Hinata at the log where he became a genin just before his fight with Neji

Hinata at the Hospital after his second fight with Mizuki.

Hinata in his arms after she knocked out the giant bee.

Hinata in the cave protecting him from the rock fall during the treasure hunting mission.

Hinata defending him from the magnetic ninja during their nano country mission.

The scenes all blurred together and as he looked into her eyes he suddenly remembered that it was Hinata that stood up to the nine tailed fox for him just a moment ago.

"Hinata…I love you too." Naruto softly said but loud enough that she heard. It was more than words he realized. Something he couldn't describe clicked into place within him.

Hinata smiled at him as her eyes grew wide from his words and her own tears sprang forth. With another cough she closed her eyes and passed out.

Looking at her in his arms with the javelin running through her and her blood flowing he started to shake. For the second time in his life he looked at her blood on his hand. Naruto felt a growing rage, greater than anything he'd ever experienced before. She had not only accepted him with the damn fox inside him but she told him that she loved him despite the foul thing. Now she was being taken away from him.

Someone actually loved him in a way he never thought anybody could or even should and now they were being torn away from him.

The rage flowed even greater. It was a wave of white hot fury that burned away everything, leaving him oddly calm. Dozens if not hundreds of enemy ninja began to appear at the edge of the field and swiftly approach the two leaf ninja.

"_**I'm going to kill all of you**_**"** He said in a guttural growl of a voice as his eyes shifted to the slits of the Kyuubi, this time though, instead of the regular red color of the Kyuubi eyes they took on an aura of blue flames, perfectly matching his own eye color.


	4. Chapter 4 Fury

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

The end of this chapter was the original end of this story. This is what the title was based on. You guys ought to see the sketch I did for this chapter. I'm not 100 sure about that Maelstrom intrepetation but I liked it and it fit the story. Since I started this it kind of got away from me. I was just having a lot of fun writing this and now I've got almost another 12,000 words already written after the end of this chapter. Those 12k words currently go up to chapter 12, although at least two of those upcoming chapters are very incomplete, of course chapter 5 is one of the two that needs a lot of work. I'm hoping to have that one done late tomorrow night with a bit of luck. Now without further delay...

Ch. 4

Time seemed to stand still. The ground no longer seemed to shake. The approaching ninja seemed frozen.

'_Lee my friend, I thank you and I'm sorry I have to use what you showed me.' _

The strangely calm Naruto thought to himself as he slowly eased Hinata to the ground, closed his eyes and stood up.

_'KAIMON RELEASE.'_

He hadn't been able to open any more than the first gate before. Even though Lee only showed and explained the process to him that one time, Naruto had tried every chance he could sneak off. He was sure that with enough time he would have mastered this but time was one thing he had been incredibly short on lately. Those few times he had been able to get away from his friends and teachers, no matter how many clones he made, he always got stuck after the first gate. This time was different.

_'KYUMON RELEASE.'_

_'SEIMON RELEASE.'_

_'SHOMON RELEASE.'_

_'TOMON RELEASE.'_

_'KEIMON RELEASE.'_

_'KYOMON RELEASE.'_

They all opened with ease this time.

'_I'm sorry too Hinata. I should have realized sooner. I really am the Leaf villages Knucklehead Ninja.'_ He thought as he opened his eyes and looked at her for what he truly believed was going to be the last time as the ground around them shook even more violently with his power, he closed his eyes again.

_'SHIMON RELEASE.'_

The world seemed to explode. Naruto was bathed in a blinding aura of blue chakra fire. Once again he stood before the massive gate that held the nine tailed fox.

"**What. Are you back already? Are you that weak?"** The demon snarled and then glared at him. **"How's your girlfriend."** The dark beast chuckled.

Narutos fury lashed out at the monster and for the first time it pulled back ever so slightly. Never before had it encountered a rage that came close to matching its own.

"_**I'M NOT ASKING THIS TIME FOX!**_" He screamed as he reached out and somehow tore the nine tailed foxes chakra from the demon.

He opened his eyes and looked around at the multitudes of foes that had hesitated while approaching him. The demon foxes aura suddenly poured out beyond the blue fire of Narutos own chakra. Somehow the massive outflow of his own chakra was shielding him from the insane amounts of red chakra of the demon fox. The blue and red mixed as Naruto began to take the form of the nine tailed fox demon and started growing. This Naruto-fox though was a nearly glowing white with highlights of blue and red chakra fire.

The huge Naruto beast-monster raised its head and howled as it's nine tails flailed about decimating dozens of ninja, sending body parts and blood flying in all directions.

Off in the distance Sakura found herself shaken awake by the monsters rage. It could only have been seconds earlier when she had used her insane strength to hollow out a small section of one of the boulders that had almost crushed her and Jiraiya. Gathering her strength she yelled out and while focusing her chakra slightly differently than when she created the hallow, she hit the rock above them a few times causing it to fracture and crack into several pieces. With a groan she managed to push one of the pieces of the massive rock off of herself and Jiraiya freeing them from the enclosed space that had trapped them. It was almost too much for her despite her massive inhuman strength. Her eyes grew wide as she saw the monstrous and growing white fox form in the distance. Using her medical jutsu she quickly revived Jiraiya.

"Whoa, that was worse than a night trying to out drink Tsunade." The Toad sage muttered, his ears still ringing from both the sonic attack and the multiple head strikes he had taken when Sakura carved out that little 'safe spot'. His own eyes suddenly grew wide at the sight of the huge white monster fox. As he counted nine tails his mouth fell open and he visibly paled.

"Naruto." He whispered.

The white monster reared up on its hind legs and intense balls of chakra began to form at not only both of its front paws/hands but also one at the tip of each one of its tails that had all stopped flailing and had spread out.

Far off in the distance they heard what was obviously Narutos voice although it was heavily distorted.

"_**RASENGAN**_".

"Oh no. Sakura we have to leave." The Toad sage anxiously looked at the eleven Rasengans, each slowly growing to nearly a full meter across. He gathered a tremendous amount of chakra, bit his thumb, began to form seals and called out while slamming his palm to the ground. "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"

Gama Bunta appeared and immediately spied the white monster.

"Jiraiya, what is _that_?" The huge toad demanded while scowling, eyeing the Naruto-fox in the distance. "I hope you don't expect me to fight whatever that thing is."

"That thing is Naruto and right now we need to immediately get out of here, he's about to live up to his name sake."

"His name sake?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. _The Maelstrom_."

Again Narutos odd voice was heard. "_**RASEN-SHURIKEN**_"

Jiraiyas eyes widened in fear as the eleven huge balls of rapidly rotating chakra began to seemingly swirl developing an edge as the Naruto-fox began to mold all of the Rasengan spheres, infusing them with elemental wind energy.

Naruto spoke again. "_**RASEN-SHURIKEN-KYUUBI-NARUTO**_"

The eleven rasen-shurikens continued to grow and slowly began to spin around in a massive circle, each one jumping between Narutos hands and tails. They began to circle overhead even faster and slowly began to merge together. Despite spinning rapidly individually, they slowly began to form a massive spinning torus. As they watched it began to expand into a larger and larger ring of energy. The sky began to darken and rain began to fall.

"How did he pull that off?" Jiraiya muttered as he watched the now dark sky begin to swirl around Naruto. Somehow Naruto had pulled elemental water energy into the mix. Suddenly the white monster stood within a circle of sunlight as the center of the spinning clouds above began to open. In a short time it was looking all the world like the white monster was standing within the eye of a natural hurricane.

"Jiraiya can you see who that is on the ground under Naruto? I think it might be Hinata but I can't make them out." Sakura asked.

"It looks like a dark haired young woman with a leaf head protector around her neck. She has a spear of some sort sticking out of her chest." The Chief Toad spoke.

"Well I guess we now know what drove Naruto over the edge. Unfortunately we can't stay here. Once he releases that thing it'll destroy everything for kilometers. I'd say that if Hinata is still alive she's probably the only one that that even has a chance of surviving this. He's pouring truly ridiculous amounts of not only the fox's chakra into that thing but his own as well. In fact it looks like far more of Narutos chakra is mixed in than I would have ever imagined possible. Looks like Naruto picked up how to open the eight inner gates used for the Lotus sequence somewhere along the line. It also looks like he's pulling off the perfect destructive mixture of air and water elements." Jiraiya said.

"The Lotus?" Sakura paled as she remembered what that jutsu had done to her friend Lee. "Master Jiraiya, can you tell how many gates Naruto has opened?" The pink haired young woman nearly whispered as she hung her head.

Jiraiya scowled but knew he couldn't lie now. "I'd say all of them. Seriously though, if we don't want to die we have to leave immediately. Naruto almost killed me with four tails I don't think I really need to see first hand what would happen now that he's got all nine. Especially since it looks like the Fox isn't controlling this, it looks like a combination of Narutos grief and fury. So that Naruto-fox thing will have all of Narutos skills, techniques and determination backed up by the full power of the Nine Tailed Fox, couple all of that with what is probably some bizarre synthesis of Narutos and the foxs fury feeding each other."

With that he grabbed Sakura and leaped to the Chief Toads back. As the giant toad leaped away at astonishing speed, Jiraiya looked back and was struck by the scene of imminent destruction they were fleeing. It was oddly beautiful with blue and red chakra flames pouring off of the white fox form while it stood in the center of the ring of energy that spun over its head. The sky had grown completely dark with swirling clouds covering everything in darkness, except for that shaft of sunlight streaming down that oddly centered on Hinata.

They must have traveled dozens of kilometers when they felt the earth itself shake and Gama Bunta was actually knocked flat as a wave of energy passed over them. Jiraiya and Sakura were struck from the toads back but managed to land on their feet. The whole world seemed to vibrate as the blast wave dissipated into the distance.

Silently they leaped back to the humongous toads back and without a word Gama Bunta turned and began to hop back the way they had fled from. It wasn't many hops at all when they came to a seemingly endless expanse of water soaked and flattened trees. The drenched landscape of shattered timber seemed to go on for kilometers before turning into another seemingly endless expanse, this time the trees were gone, leaving nothing but shattered earth and rock. As they got closer and closer to the center the shattered rocks were becoming smaller and smaller to finally become a finely ground sand that was turning to mud as the light rain fell. It became obvious that they were within an unbelievable hole that was starting to fill with water. A shaft of rock appeared in the distance, through the mist of the light rain. It looked like it was in the middle of the newly formed lake that Gama Bunta continued to hop across. As they got close to the pillar they could see two figures lying together on the untouched grass that covered the top of the newly formed pillar.

"Naruto, Hinata." Sakura whispered as she leaped across from Gama Buntas back to the edge of the pillar. She timidly took a step forward as she gazed at her two friends together. Hinata was lying in Narutos arms while Naruto was slumped over her on his knees. Sakura was frozen in place, they were both so still, tears formed in her eyes. She heard a soft groan and her eyes grew wide as she realized that at least one of them had survived that incredible event and was alive.

"NARUTO, HINATA!" She yelled as she broke into a run, quickly closing the distance between her and her friends. Hinata was paler than usual. Sakura gasped as she realized that Naruto was kneeling in a pool of Hinatas blood. Sakura saw the javelin in Hinatas chest move slightly as the young woman continued to breath shallowly. Naruto seemed completely still and Sakura feared the worst. He had one hand on Hinatas chest between her breasts directly over her heart. Running up she gathered her own chakra and began to treat Hinata with her medical jutsu. She was stunned that she didn't need to steady the young woman's pulse as she slowly pulled the steel javelin out. There was surprisingly little blood. Sakura worried that most of her friends blood was already gone, absorbed into the ground

Sakura pulled back in shock as she felt through her medical soft blue tendrils of chakra pull the wound closed. The tendrils started to fade but before they vanished she was stunned to sense that they traveled through Hinata and seemed to emanate from Narutos hand. Seeing that there wasn't much more she could do for Hinata she focused on Naruto. Outwardly he seemed surprisingly unhurt, all things considered but he was still a mass of cuts and bruises. As she began her medical jutsu Sakura could sense at least a dozen minor fractures throughout his body. Much like the time they fought Orochimaru, when she saw his four tails form, Narutos wounds were healing much slower than usual for him. If he was even healing at all this time, she worried. In fact somehow Naruto was enabling Hinata to heal faster than he himself usually healed.

As Sakura probed deeper she realized that Naruto had virtually no detectable chakra left. Apparently he had picked up the ability to transfer his chakra to another. _'He probably somehow taught himself that after he had given his chakra to Gaara through Chiyo-sama when she revived Gaara.'_ Sakura thought.

It wasn't Chiyo-sama jutsu thankfully and Sakura didn't recognize it from anything she had learned from Tsunade. She sighed and began to transfer some of her own chakra to Naruto. She was stunned when she felt her chakra immediately flow out of Naruto through his hand and into Hinata.

"That won't do." She muttered. She pulled Narutos hand away from Hinata and once again began to transfer chakra. Somehow a small trickle still flowed to Hinata but as Sakura began to let out a sigh of relief she sensed the chakra in Naruto shift and again it began to flow into Hinata only this time it was going through his other hand and into her through her shoulder. Sakura sighed again in frustration as Jiraiya walked up.

"We have to get them back to the hospital in Konoha as soon as possible I can't do any more for them here. They really need Tsunade but I think they're going to be fine.

"Naruto-chan." They turned to the sound of Hinatas ragged whisper even though the young woman didn't wake up.

"H…" Naruto muttered something that wasn't really audible in his own ragged whisper, also without waking up.

Jiraiya, Sakura and Gama Bunta looked at the two in wry amusement as they noticed that somehow Naruto and Hinata wound up holding hands. Sakura decided that they shouldn't separate them when they put the two on Gama Buntas back and they stayed that way for the entire journey back to Konoha. It caused a bit of a stir when the hospital staff wasn't willing to separate the two and they had to have adjoining beds as the two held onto each others hand while they stayed unconscious.


	5. Chapter 5 awake at the hospital

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

From here on this story is only related to the title by the after effects of Narutos transformation. I've been combining chapters so instead of 12, I now have 9. Thanks for the reviews everyone I appreciate it. I'm thinking about tossing up my sketch of the white Naruto-Fox form near the beginning of the formation of the 11 Rasen Shurikens just as they're starting to connect into the ring somewhere online, any suggestions would be appreciated. Right now I'm leaning towards creating an addition earthlink account and tossing it up that way but as I said I'm open to suggestions.

Ch. 5

It was getting late into the afternoon when Kakashi entered Tsunade's office.

"So?" Tsunade asked as Kakashi stood before her.

"Well it's much like Jiraiya's initial report. Imagine a similar effect to what we saw in Kakuzus body, only on the very earth itself spread over a circle at least a kilometer in diameter and that's just the primary impact zone. Although it doesn't sound quite right for this, we're going with impact. Outside of the central safe area the primary impact goes nearly 15 meters into the ground. Looks like it practically liquefied the very bedrock itself. I think if we looked at the training area where Yamato and Naruto developed the Rasen Shuriken we'll probably find similar effects. I don't think those craters received any sort of extensive study. Judging by how extensive the destruction was over in Wind there wouldn't seem to be any survivors from any of the ninja that attacked them. Although we have a report that a single cloud ninja involved made it back to Kumo. At the site itself though there's very little evidence at all. I doubt we'll ever even know something as simple as how many there were. We have some additional intelligence from the grass and cloud villages but not much directly related to the attack. We'll most likely be able to at least find out how many ninja those two villages hired out for this attack but I doubt we'll get much more than that."

"So you mean that more than two villages were involved in this?"

"At least three, we found a nearly destroyed sound headband."

"Sound? Hmmm, I guess that should be expected if the reports about Orichimaru's death are true. Has there been anything along official lines from either the cloud or grass villages?"

"With the grass village being a minor village we're expecting them to lay low. Odds are that they lost a significant percentage of their high level shinobi to this, even if they lost only a couple of dozen or so. We have better intelligence assets at the Hidden Cloud Village and we're expecting something official from the Raikage." Kakashi said as he took note that Tsunade left the possibility of Orochimarus survival open.

"Official? Why is that?"

"Well word has it that the Kazekage is most upset with the whole matter on an official level since the whole thing basically amounted to an invading army entering Wind Country. Apparently word has also spread that a close personal friend of the Kazekage was one of the Leaf Ninjas involved and so he is also greatly upset on a personal level. Another thing, it seems that it was leaked out that one of the Hyuga clan was seriously hurt in this mess, although word hasn't gotten out that it was the Hyuga heir."

"Do you think that information has gotten to Kumo yet?"

"Looks that way. We're pretty sure that the Raikage will maintain his seat but at the very least it is looking like there's going to be a bunch of open seats on their council shortly."

"Really? Well with tensions high between Lightning and Water lately I doubt the Raikage wants to add Konoha and Suna to the list of people aligned against him. Toss in that this is dredging up the whole Hyuga fiasco again over there and with nothing more than a few messages we can probably make the Raikage sweat quite a bit." Tsunade actually smiled at this. It wasn't a pleasant or happy smile, in fact Kakashi almost stepped back from the obvious anger smoldering behind that smile.

"Actually I believe that Hiashi is considering requesting permission from you to declare a family vendetta against a clan or two in Kumo over this."

"I may just grant him that." Tsunade looked at the reports on Hinata and Naruto. "I may even declare one myself." She murmured softly.

"That would be a bit unusual wouldn't it?"

"Perhaps but it may just convince them to knock this garbage off. Maybe I should simply adopt Naruto." She paused looking thoughtful. "Since word is going around that the Kazekage is upset over his personal friend being hurt I think it would be a good idea to leak out that person is also a personal friend of the Hokage as well, we'll hold off on anything like adoption."

Kakashi looked a bit startled at that. "Of course."

Tsunade picked up Hinatas report. "How is she doing anyway?"

"Well she did wake up a short time ago and she refuses to leave Narutos side. The doctors are reluctant to even try to separate the two since that odd link is still in place. In fact they've requested that you personally come as soon as possible to examine them now that she's awake."

"Hmm. That sounds like a good idea. I'd like to talk to Hinata as well. Go get that damn pervert and Sakura and meet me there. If I get a chance to talk to her privately just hang out near their room. I'll leave the door closed if that's the case." Tsunade got up and headed for the door as Kakashi nodded and disappeared in a poof of smoke.

---ooo---

It didn't take long for Tsunade to get to the room holding Hinata and Naruto. She quietly let herself in to find Hinata sitting in a chair next to the bed holding Narutos hand as they both seemed to be asleep. There was the slightest smile on Hinatas face.

"Ah hem." Tsunade said softly after walking up to them.

Hinatas eyes flashed open to see the Hokage standing over her. Her pale eyes darted to Narutos hand in her own and darted back to Tsunade as a soft blush filled her cheeks with color. Tsunade was pleased that the young woman continued to hold Narutos hand despite the fact that doing so was a source of embarrassment.

"Lady Hokage-sama."

"Relax Hinata, please call me Tsunade. Seems you've gotten pretty deep into this with Naruto haven't you?"

Hinatas soft blush flared to a bright crimson. "I, uh, well, you see…"

"I said relax, it's obvious that you care deeply for him. I'd like to hear what happened from you."

"Well you know that we were attacked by a large number of ninja." Hinata looked up at Tsunade."

"Yes go on, I've already talked to Jiraiya and Sakura. Just tell me what happened with you and Naruto."

"We had gotten separated from Jiraiya and Sakura and were fighting them off back to back." The young woman looked down and whispered. "It's all my fault."

"What?" Tsunade bent down and lightly lifted Hinatas face with her finger under Hinatas chin to see that tears had started welling up in the girls eyes. "Don't believe that Hinata."

"But it is. We were doing so well, none of them could get past my defense. I was leaving openings for them to attack and letting Naruto know about incoming attacks that he would be better at taking out than I would be. Naruto was knocking any out that got close with Rasengan after Rasengan, he even fired off two Rasengans at one time. I continued to use my Byakugan to give him direction on where to attack." Hinatas voice dropped to a whisper. "It was incredible."

"Wait Naruto was using multiple Rasengans? In quick succession? Was he using his clones?"

"He almost always had one in each hand and yes he was able to create a replacement Rasengan in less than a second every time he used one. There wasn't enough room for any clones. In fact Naruto had to crouch most of the time to stay within my Shugohakke. There just wasn't enough space for a clone."

"So do you know how many Rasengans he used?"

"At least a dozen." She paused looking down at the floor again.

"Hinata, its o.k. you can tell me."

"He told me that we were unbeatable together." A tear rolled down her cheek. "I couldn't believe that he said that about me and an attack slipped through. I was knocked to the ground and blacked out for a brief moment. That's why I know it was my fault."

She hesitated and looked at Tsunade. "I was only out for a second or so and when I looked up Naruto…Naruto was…I'm sorry I can't tell you, I can't betray Naruto." She looked down, stared at the floor and wouldn't go on. She thought about the monster inside her love and just couldn't bring herself to tell someone else. Her knuckles briefly turned white as she tightened her grip on Narutos hand for a moment. It was Narutos secret and she wouldn't give that up to anyone, not even to the Hokage.

"Did he change Hinata?" Tsunade looked at the poor girl and took Hinatas free hand within her own. "It's o.k. I know Narutos secret as well."

Hinata looked up with relief in her face.

"Oh, Tsunade-sama, it was horrible! He was covered in some sort of red chakra like energy, it made him look like he had four tails before a fifth started to appear. I thought it was killing him, there was so much blood. I looked at him with the Byakugan to see what was happening to him and it seemed that I was pulled inside him."

"You were inside Naruto?"

"Well not really, maybe, kind of, oh… I don't really know. I've never heard of anything like that before. I was before a massive sealed gate. I looked through the bars and saw the demon. I realized it was some sort of cage for the nine tailed fox. I then saw that Naruto was in the cage with the nine tailed fox."

The young woman broke down sobbing. Tsunade gathered her up in a hug. Hinata latched onto the woman with her left hand and arm without letting go of Narutos hand in her right hand.

"It's o.k. Hinata."

"Oh Tsunade, I had followed Naruto a few weeks ago. I saw him pass by Ichiraku Ramen around lunch time and he seemed so depressed it was like he didn't even see Ichiraku's. I'd never seen Naruto like that and I couldn't bring myself to go ask him what was wrong so I followed him. He went to Lee's dojo to ask Lee to teach him something that Lee didn't want to teach him. They started talking about Sakura and I couldn't help myself, I used the Byakugan to see what they were saying. He told Lee that he loved Sakura like a sister not like the way he used to, he, he no longer thought of Sakura as a possible girlfriend. I smiled at that, I was always jealous of Sakura because of Narutos feelings toward her. Then he said that he didn't think anyone should love him. I couldn't eavesdrop anymore, I couldn't believe that Naruto thought that he didn't deserve any ones love so I ran away. I avoided him for days after that, it broke my heart every time I saw him, he was always smiling to everyone despite how much he was hurting inside. I didn't know how I could help him and I couldn't bear it." Hinata was shaking with her sobbing.

Hinata took a deep breath after a few minutes, steadied herself and looked into Tsunades eyes.

"Keep talking Hinata, it'll help."

"When I saw the nine tailed fox with Naruto in its grasp I realized it had been inside Naruto all along. It made sense, it made a lot of things make so much more sense. It was right then that I knew that I really loved Naruto and that my feelings were more than just a crush. I screamed at the fox to let him go. It looked at me and knew I was a Hyuga."

"Wait, it knew you were a Hyuga, how do you know this?"

"It said so, it looked at me and said 'Hyuga'." Hinata shuddered.

"So the nine tails can actually speak to people from within Naruto. Now that's interesting. What else did it say?"

"It said something about first a Uchiha and now a Hyuga, it said that both families could see it there and that I shouldn't be able to be there. Then it said that what was going on was none of my business. I couldn't let the fox keep Naruto so I ran through the bars to get to him away from the monster. It knocked me outside of the cage. I wasn't going to give up Naruto, not ever, no matter what. I screamed at the fox to let him go, began my Shugohakke Rokujyuu Yonshou and slowly walked back into the cage. I was able to block its attacks that time which seemed to amuse the thing somehow, so it hurled Naruto at me knocking us out of the cage and it told us to leave. Naruto came out of some sort of daze, saw me there in front of the cage with him and asked me what I was doing there and how I got there."

"Now that is very interesting. So what happened next."

"Well we went back to the outside world. I saw the red chakra disappear and Naruto returned to normal. Then I, I felt the javelin hit me. I looked down to see it sticking out of my chest." She paused looking down again. "That was the first time he called me Hinata-chan. It was almost worth getting a javelin through my lung to hear him say that. I called him Naruto-chan for the first time, told him that I loved him, reached out to touch his cheek and apologized for not telling him sooner. He told me that he loved me too. I was so sad and angry that it had taken us so long but in a way I was happy that I at least got to tell him that and hear it from him before I died. I'm pretty sure I smiled at him right then. That's the last thing I remember before waking up today at the hospital. I was so sure I was going to die then."

"O.K. well you're not dead, even though you both probably should be, so with a bit more luck you two will have plenty of time together now." Tsunade smiled at the once again blushing Hinata. "Now let me see that wound."

Hinata sat back and lifted her shirt slightly to show Tsunade where the javelin had exited her rib cage.

"Hmm, looks like you're not even going to have a scar here or maybe just a very faint one. Turn around lets see your back." Hinata let go of her shirt, stood up and turned around.

"There's even less to see back here." Tsunade said as she lifted the back of Hinatas shirt and looked at the spot the javelin entered her body.

"Hold on a second this might tickle a bit." Tsunade built up her own chakra and used it to probe Hinatas lung along with the tissue and muscle that had been damaged by the javelin.

"Not much scar tissue at all. In fact I don't think anyone other than Sakura or myself would be able to detect the scar tissue that is there. You're very lucky Hinata."

"How is this possible?" The pale eyed girl asked.

"I've no idea. Although I'm sure it's all his fault." She laughed and smiled at Hinata as she pointed to Naruto and was pleased to see the young woman smile.


	6. Chapter 6 Talking with the Fox

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

Finished polishing ch. 6 sooner than I thought. Hopefully I didn't miss too many typos and other mistakes.

Ch. 6

There was a soft knock on the door and Sakura poked her head in.

"We heard you laugh, is it o.k. to come in now?" She asked from the door.

"Yes and bring those two cowards in with you." She smiled again at Hinata. "Imagine, they're so afraid of me that they send in a young woman first."

"That's hardly fair, you've almost killed me once. So I sometimes tend to be a little cautious around you, especially when we're in a hospital." Jiraiya said as he walked in with a big smile.

"I'm just following his lead, seemed like a good idea." Kakashi said as he walked in behind Jiraiya.

"Well I've got Hinatas story now. Looks like Naruto thought she had died and he somehow managed to draw out the nine tails full power or near enough not to matter. Now you're certain he had all nine tails Jiraiya?"

"Absolutely, the only one to come close to really killing me other than you was Naruto with four tails. He also had four tails when he hurt Sakura. Up until three tails he retains some of himself but once he hits four the fox seems to completely dominate."

"Well it seems that Hinata spoke to the fox when he was at five tails and by what she told me, I'd say Naruto definitely wasn't in control then. From what you told me sometime after that he went to nine tails but was white instead of red and massive amounts of his own chakra were involved." Tsunade said.

"Spoke to the fox?" Kakashi asked.

"Later, Jiraiya are you certain he opened the eight inner gates?"

"Certain? No but I don't seen how any other explanation could fit. I don't think the fox was in control at that point but I don't think Naruto really was either. The area of destruction was roughly 8 kilometers in diameter, the worst being at about 1 kilometer across. The very center though, apparently focused on Hinata here, was completely untouched."

"So seeing Hinata apparently seriously hurt drove him to five tails. Unfortunately we don't know if she may have been safe or if it was just a fluke that she saw him go from four to five tails and not get hurt. Since the four and five tail forms Hinata witnessed were red and bubbling we can assume that the fox was in control. Thinking she had died not only drove him all the way to nine tails but it seems that it somehow suppressed the fox as well. We're assuming that he opened all of the eight inner gates to do that. Jiraiya did you teach him any of that?"

"Sorry no, that one wasn't me. I had considered it but I thought it'd be too dangerous for him."

"I thought so. Kakashi what about you?"

"Nope, we never touched on the gates before, although he witnessed Lee open up the first five gates several years ago during Lee's fight with Gaara during the chuunin exams." Kakashi replied to Tsunade.

"Between what Hinata told me and the reports I've read I think it's safe to say that Rock Lee is the only one who pointed him to that path. Damn, I was hoping that he at least had some knowledge of the gates prior to seeking out Lee. Since that's a technique that takes years to master I guess it's safe to say that the 'Mass Shadow Clone' learning technique that Kakashi thought up for him is even more effective than we thought since he somehow not only picked up how to open the eight inner gates but he did so without any of his teachers or teammates knowing about it. I guess we're also going to have to assume that bearing the fox allowed him to survive opening all eight gates." Tsunade paused and looked at Hinata.

"We also have the mystery of how he managed to heal Hinata with no medical training. Sakura did you teach him anything like that?"

"No, Tsunade-sama. I'm certain he learned the basic idea when we rescued Gaara." Sakura spoke up. "He gave up some of his chakra to Chiyo-sama and she used it to revive Gaara. They were in physical contact so it's almost certain he got some sort of feel for medical jutsu then. He's also been on the receiving end a few times between myself and Ino."

"I had forgotten about that one with Chiyo. So either he pulled that off on the fly after going through the nine tails transformation or that's yet another technique he picked up without anyone knowing. With Naruto it's probably a bit of both." Tsunade paused. "Sakura you should investigate over at the medical library. See if there is any record of you or I being there when you know we were elsewhere. At this point it wouldn't surprise me to find out that he transformed one of his clones into one of us to gain access to restricted parts of the medical library."

Sakura nodded and Jiraiya spoke up.

"Naruto hasn't really been all that good at learning techniques from reading about them you know. He can do it but he's more of a hands on type of student."

"Actually that doesn't rule this out. He could have easily wanted to learn more about what he saw Chiyo-san do and misunderstood what he read. That would fit especially since I've never seen a link like what we have here between Naruto and Hinata before." Tsunade said as she looked at Naruto.

"There's a link between me and Naruto-chan?" Hinata softly asked.

"That's what we're going to look into now dear." Tsunade said. "Sakura when you first found them together after the battle you discovered that Naruto had somehow linked his chakra to Hinata and accelerated her healing."

"Yes, when I found them he had his hand on her chest over her heart and I saw the wound in her chest close up before my eyes once I pulled the javelin out. Hinatas pulse was steady and she seemed out of danger so I checked Naruto. When I tried to use my chakra to heal Naruto it simply flowed through him and was redirected into Hinata. When I pulled his hand away from her heart and tried again the flow of chakra into Hinata slowed to a trickle for a short time before the link rerouted through his other hand. Before it did that though I think the chakra that didn't transfer to Hinata seemed to vanish into Naruto. He seemed o.k. despite having hardly any detectable chakra so I thought the best place for them was here at the hospital."

"So, on the surface it looks like we're dealing with some sort of chakra depletion coma with Naruto. If that was all there was to this case he should have been up and running a few days ago, going by his history. This time he's already been out for more than a week, about double any other time he's been knocked out due to chakra depletion." Tsunade mused. "Still…I know the doctors already tried this to some degree but I don't think they have the resources we have, right Jiraiya?"

"Of course when it comes to sheer quantity of high quality chakra there's nothing like two of the legendary sannin." Jiraiya grinned being pretty sure he knew what Tsunade had in mind.

Tsunade placed her hands onto Narutos chest and Jiraiya walked over to the other side of the bed and placed his on top of hers. Tsunade began to transfer a large amount of her own chakra into Naruto and was stunned to feel that most of it seemed to disappear. Jiraiya began to transfer some of his own chakra through Tsunade and she directed that into Naruto as well. Despite the vast amount of chakra being poured into the boy nearly all of it simply vanished. A puzzled Tsunade stopped and looked at an apparently dazed Hinata.

"Hinata are you o.k.?" She asked.

Hinata shook her head and answered. "I think so Tsunade-sama. That was…strange."

"Can you use your Byakugan this time and see what happens?"

"Yes of course Tsunade-sama."

Hinata activated her families eye-jutsu and was stunned at just how little chakra flowed through Naruto. Tsunade and Jiraiya again began to transfer a large amount of chakra into Naruto. Hinata could see that it flowed throughout Narutos entire chakra network. Again she was stunned to see that some of the flow was going through Narutos hand and into hers to boost her own chakra. As the two sannin stopped Hinata watched the chakra flowing through Narutos body drain into the very center of the network near his stomach and fade away.

"Tsunade-sama most of the chakra is flowing into Narutos chakra center and vanishing. Some of it is flowing through his hand into me."

"Well isn't that interesting." Tsunade and Jiraiya both murmured together.

"Hinata can you let go of Narutos hand for a moment?"

The briefest flicker of fear crossed Hinatas face, she never wanted to let Naruto go, ever, for the rest of her life. She started to almost chuckle at herself then, the practicality of that was rather funny. After that slight hesitation she gently took her hand out of Narutos. There was a slight flicker on several of the monitors attached to the young man and several readings became a bit more erratic but stayed within acceptable limits. Everyone watched the monitors for a moment and then relaxed. Tsunade and Jiraiya began to transfer chakra into Naruto again. Again most of it flowed into the center of his chakra network and vanished. Again there was a very small amount being shunted to Hinata, much smaller than the last time but still there. As she focused she could see that there was a thin thread of chakra connecting her to Naruto that was allowing the flow.

"It's the same Tsunade-sama." Hinata spoke. "Although the amount going to me has greatly diminished. I can see that there is a very small chakra thread connecting me to Naruto now."

"Hmm." Tsunade murmured. "Hinata can you try to send some of your own chakra into Naruto through that thread?"

"Of course." Hinata concentrated and through much greater resistance than she would have expected from such a small thread she pushed some of her chakra into Naruto through the thread. The monitors immediately settled into the quieter range they had been in when Hinata was holding Narutos hand. Hinata was surprised to see that some of the chakra she had forced into Naruto vanished and she stopped pushing. As soon as she took her will away from the flow it immediately reversed itself and she felt it come flowing back into her own system and the monitors became more active.

"Tsunade I can force it, some of it disappears into his center but as soon as I relax, the flow pours back into me."

"Well that's interesting. If I had to guess I would say that Narutos subconscious doesn't know that you're out of danger. So it's shunting every bit of chakra it can spare into you, well the chakra that doesn't vanish anyway. I'd cut the thread but with what the monitors are showing that's probably a bad idea. Lets see how far you can go from him dear."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Hinata said as she got up and started to walk across the room towards the door. Each step away made the monitors become more agitated and they relaxed the closer she got to him until they became nearly completely quiet once she grasped his hand again.

"Looks like you're stuck with him kiddo." Jiraiya laughed as he walked back to the near side of Narutos bed. "Good luck, you're going to need it."

"Well at least you've got complete range of the room." Sakura said. She had been quiet other than answering Tsunades questions the whole time. For some reason she felt a small pang of jealousy every time she looked at Hinata holding Narutos hand.

"That's the first time I've ever seen such a link maintain itself when the person who made it was unconscious." Tsunade said. "Well he does seem to be slowly getting better despite this vanishing chakra problem."

"So Tsunade, think it's the fox?" Jiraiya asked.

"Probably." She looked at Hinata and then at Kakashi. "Hinata you said the fox told you something along the lines of 'first a Uchiha and now a Hyuga' right?"

"Yes Tsunade-sama."

"Would you be willing to try to talk to it again?"

"Umm…" She hesitated and looked at Naruto. "For Naruto, I'll do anything."

Jiraiya started to make a crack but got a swift elbow in the gut from Tsunade to cut him off.

"Kakashi I'd like you to try to go with her. If it's something the Uchiha and Hyuga clans can do with a little luck your Sharigan will allow you to accompany her."

"Of course." The copy ninja finally spoke up.

"If you do manage to communicate with the damn thing see if you can find out about the vanishing chakra."

The two looked at each other and nodded. Kakashi pulled up his forehead protector to expose his Sharigan eye and Hinata activated her Byakugan. Kakashi walked over and put his hand on Hinatas shoulder and they both stared intently at Naruto. Hinata saw the chakra network and focused on the very center where the chakra had disappeared. She looked deeper and deeper and she felt Kakashi with her. Kakashi couldn't see the way Hinata did but he felt himself being pulled along with her thanks to the Sharigan. An odd wave of vertigo passed over them and they found themselves in a strange corridor ankle deep in blue tinged water that resembled the huge room that Hinata first found herself in that contained the gate holding the nine tailed fox. They looked at each other and both felt an aura of malevolence. They wandered the corridors for what seemed to be a few minutes until they found a side branch the feeling of anger was coming from. A short walk later and they found themselves in the huge room that Hinata had first arrived at during the battle. Hinata approached the gate cautiously but left what she felt was a safe distance between herself and the bars. She glanced at Kakashi, who nodded and then she looked back into the shadows beyond the bars.

"Excuse me." She asked softly.

There was an odd shuffling sound and something like a snort. A single huge eye slowly opened and glared at her from the shadows in the other side of the bars.

"**Hinata."** The slit pupil shifted to look over Kakashi as Hinatas heart skipped a beat that the creature knew her name this time. **"Another Uchiha."** The beast seemed to scowl with that single eye as it stared intently at Kakashi. **"You are not an Uchiha. Yet you hold the Sharigan. Interesting."** It shifted its gaze back to Hinata. **"So you did survive, I thought that was you the kid was tied to. What do you want this time?"**

She steeled herself, thinking of Naruto and glared back the fox.

"**Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha. You're nearly as bad as Naruto."**

"Why are you taking Narutos chakra?" She demanded.

"**I was? Interesting. Serves him right, he's been taking mine for some time now and he didn't even ask last time."** The thing slowly opened its second eye and focused its entire attention on the young woman. **"That was your fault wasn't it?"**

"My fault?" That one shook her a bit, more so than the vicious glare from the monsters huge red eyes.

"**Yes it was because of you, I am sure of it. I probably should not have made that crack about 'his girlfriend'. I've never seen the kid so angry before and I doubt anyone has seen and felt his anger as much as I have. I must be a bad influence, Ha, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha. That was the first time he forcibly took chakra from me. Actually he surprised me when he asked just before you were here last. He wouldn't take my power when the Uchiha was here before. Then you arrived to pull him away from me. I didn't think I'd see him again so soon. To have him rip my own power away from me, I guess he's not as weak as I always tell him he is."**

"Could it really be my fault?" She said softly.

The thing seemed to smile. **"You don't get it do you, you really are as bad as he is." **The demon paused. ** "Tell him not to do that again."** Its strange unseen smile was gone for that last sentence.

Hinata began to realize what the fox was talking about. Naruto did love her. He loved her enough not only to challenge the nine tailed fox but to dominate it as well. She began to glare at the demon again. It slowly closed its second eye.

"**I am tired, leave me."**

"One more moment please Kyuubi-sama." Kakashi spoke up.

"**Finally, a little respect."** The fox demons eye closed and they were startled to see its massive teeth appear as it yawned. The single eye returned to glare at Kakashi.

"If you could not take as much chakra from Naruto he could wake up himself. You both would recover quicker if he could eat on his own."

"**Fine, I will try but I will likely need a bit more first."**

"We'll see what we can do. One last thing the Uchiha that was here before who was he?"

"**The one Naruto considers his brother, Sasuke." **It shifted its glare to Hinata again. **"Don't forget to tell Naruto not to do that again. Now leave me**." The massive eye vanished.

"Thank you Kyuubi-sama. Lets go Hinata." Kakashi said as they turned.

There was that odd sense of vertigo, leaving Hinata and Kakashi back in the hospital room with everyone else.

"Well are you going to try?" Jiraiya asked.

"Try? We talked to it, we must have been there for at least ten minutes." Kakashi replied to the Toad Sage.

"Well it wasn't a half second out here."

Hinata shuddered. "It knows my name now."

"Don't worry about that. It probably knows all of our names if it cared to think about it. I would imagine it knows much of what Naruto knows." Kakashi reassured her.

"So did you learn anything?" Tsunade demanded.

"Plenty. The demon actually seemed exhausted. The vanishing chakra is almost certainly flowing to the beast. It seemed to be sleeping when we arrived. There was a layer of water a few inches deep throughout the entire construct. That water seemed to be tinged with Narutos chakra and it seemed to be slowly flowing into the demon fox. Did you notice if the water was there last time Hinata?"

"Actually yes but it was clear last time." She replied.

"Well I guess it's a small relief to know that the damn thing doesn't have an infinite amount of chakra." Tsunade mused.

"It said it would try to stop taking almost all of the chakra in Naruto but that it would likely need more first."

"That might be a problem. It probably needs a good deal more than we have now. Jiraiya and I can probably give up a bit more but I suspect on the scale of things what we really need another person with chakra comparable to a Hokage." Tsunade mused.

The door quietly opened and a soft but gravelly voice spoke out.

"Would a Kazekage do?" Gaara entered the room. "I do believe I owe Naruto a favor along these lines."

"Gaara-sama!" Sakura actually jumped up and hugged the young man.

"Please, Sakura-san." Gaara looked extremely uncomfortable with such a display of affection. "I'll gladly help." He said to Tsunade.

"Well lets give it a shot then." She nodded to Jiraiya. Tsunade placed her hands on Narutos chest while the Toad Sage and the Kazekage put their hands on top of hers from the other side of the bed. Tsunade began transferring more and more chakra. After a few minutes the Toad Sage pulled back, obviously strained causing Tsunade to stop.

"Whoa, I don't think I should give much more or you'll be putting me up in the hospital as well."

"Hey could you guys keep it down, I'm trying to sleep here." Naruto muttered as he slowly opened his eyes.

"I do believe that makes us even Naruto." Gaara said with a very rare smile.

"What…? Gaara?" Naruto looked around, smiled softly at the sight of Hinata and lightly squeezed her hand. "Wow, quite a crowd."


	7. Chapter 7 talk

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

Next update is likely going to take longer. I've got most of ch. 9 done but 8 is only a couple of paragraphs.

Ch. 7

It didn't take long for the whole assembly to head out of the hospital. Naruto was a little wobbly but he insisted that he absolutely needed at least one bowl of ramen if not a dozen. So of course they all headed off to Ichiraku Ramen. Naruto took the center seat with Hinata on his right and Kakashi on her right. Gaara took the seat to his left with Sakura on his left. Ichiraku Ramen was a small shop but the owner was more than willing to take down the curtain and setup an extra table outside in order to serve the Hokage and Jiraiya.

"That won't be necessary Teuchi-san, Jiraiya and I have work to take care of. I'll make sure to stop by soon though. Please send the bill to my office." Tsunade said.

"You know you're going to regret that one right?" Jiraiya said as he watched Narutos face light up at the Hokages words.

"No matter. Sakura when you finish could you stop by Rock Lee's place and send him to my office." Tsunade said.

"Of course Tsunade-sama." The pink haired girl replied.

"If you don't mind I would like to accompany you to see Lee Sakura." Gaara asked softly.

"Not at all."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at Gaaras request. "Gaara, thank you again. I believe you know where your guest quarters are right? I'll have them readied for you."

"Of course Tsunade. I believe my quarters are already taken care of. Temari joined me on this trip and was going to take care of that when I went directly to the hospital earlier." Gaara said to Tsunade.

"Naruto, Hinata and Kakashi, I'd like to see you three as well, say about two hours after you finish eating. That should give you two a chance to clean up and change, Kakashi can keep an eye on the two of you for another few hours. Hinata when you stop by your home and see your father tell him I'd like to see him as well, at his convenience." Tsunade said as she turned and headed off to the Hokage building.

---ooo---

Tsunade and Jiraiya walked off towards the Hokage building.

"There's something bothering me about that white fox." Tsunade said as she began to glare slightly at Jiraiya.

"Just one thing?" He had caught the slight change in her manner and swallowed hard.

"You said it formed 11 Rasengans at the same time. Hinata told me that while they were fighting together Naruto formed and released at least a dozen Rasengans. Apparently he can form two at a time now and create one in a second or less."

"Well he can come pretty close to forming three at a time." Jiraiya said softly.

"THREE!" Tsunade practically hissed. "That shouldn't be possible."

"Well so far it hasn't been possible for him to build three simultaneously but he can easily create one in each hand at the same time." Jiraiya paused, this one was going to hurt. "He can easily maintain three and was working on four."

Tsunade actually stopped. "He can maintain three separate Rasengans… Damn."

"Well that's by himself anyway."

"By himself?"

"He can pass them off to his clones and so far by doing that he's been able to maintain eight and was closing in on the ninth. I suspect that with Kakashis new learning technique it won't be long before Naruto goes way past eight."

"Do I even want to know what he's been doing with all these Rasengans?"

"Probably not." Jiraiya winced after saying that once he saw the daggers Tsunade was looking at him. With a deep sigh he continued. "He juggles them."

"Juggles? Like some sort of circus clown? Are you telling me that one of the most powerful techniques developed by the fourth Hokage has been reduced to some sort of side show toy for Naruto?" Tsunade was beginning to get red as her anger built.

"Well I wouldn't say that." Jiraiya mused. "He was working something out in his head I think. He wouldn't tell me what it was for though but I suspect it was to counter something he had run into somewhere along the line. I believe he once said something along the lines that his goal was to be able to maintain nine. Besides it's probably my fault that Naruto doesn't hold the Rasengan in such high regard. Since I've taught it to him I've encouraged him to use it for just about anything he can think of. Although the Rasengan requires a high degree of raw chakra control, Naruto was always a little lacking in fine chakra control. So I figured the more he used the Rasengan for anything he could think of, the better off he would be."

"Great, that was probably the basis of that Rasengan ring the Naruto fox made. Kakashi and Yamato taught him chakra wind nature manipulation to add the element of wind to that thing and somehow in a way that nobody understands he tossed in the element of water. I guess he could have somehow drawn on the nine tailed fox for that although I always thought the fox had more of an affinity to fire. I hope to god he didn't pick that up from that one time Yamato combined a water attack with Narutos Fuuton Rasengan when they recently fought that Kakuzu freak." Tsunade fumed. "Basically under the right circumstances Naruto could destroy nearly all of Konoha with that."

"That's one way of looking at it." Jiraiya answered.

Tsunade scowled at him. "You have another?"

"Remember the very center of that area was untouched. Konoha is basically a segment of a circle. If he could control that, the entire village of Konoha would have an ultimate defense that the world has never seen before."

"Jiraiya there are times I really hate you." Tsunade fumed even more.

---ooo---

"Gaara, thank you for helping me out back there." Naruto said.

"I couldn't very well stay in your debt when I had the opportunity to even the score, now could I."

"I guess so." Naruto said with a pout. "I would have liked keeping a favor or two from you before I become Hokage."

"Well we will just have to work together more often. If we continue along these lines we won't be able to keep score."

"That's probably the best solution." Naruto replied with his characteristic grin and what many would consider uncharacteristic wisdom.

"Yes."

"So…not that I'm complaining but why did you come to Konoha?" Naruto asked.

"Your recent incident was a little on the apocalyptic side. Tsunade and I have been communicating about the best ways to handle certain aspects of this with a minimal amount of conflict. The real opponent here is the Akatsuki not the villages where the ninja who attacked you came from. The timing of my appearance was simply fortuitous."

"Umm, yeah for too it tus? I'll just stick with 'thank you'. It is good to see you and now you finally get to eat some of the best ramen in the world." Naruto grinned widely again before turning back to his current bowl.

Gaara and Sakura finished a bowl apiece, said their good byes and headed off to Lee's apartment.

A surprisingly short time later, even for those who knew him, Naruto had finished eight bowls. He occasionally put down his chopsticks to reach over and caress Hinatas hand while she waited after only finishing a single bowl. Kakashi found the whole interaction between the two interesting, he was a bit surprised to see such tenderness in Naruto and also to see it returned by Hinata. Actually he was very surprised by the very existence of this new romance but he figured it best to keep quiet. As they got up and were leaving they ran into Shikamaru and Shino.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru called out and stumbled as he saw that Naruto and Hinata were holding hands. "Hinata?"

"Shikamaru! Shino! It's good to see you guys." Naruto exclaimed as he waved with his free hand.

"Shikamaru, Shino-kun." Hinata said with a slight bow and faint blush.

"What's going on?" Shikamaru demanded. "You two were in the hospital for like a week and you were not only in the same room but they weren't allowing any of us to visit. Other than Sakura that is and she wouldn't tell us anything. We're pretty sure that we just saw her near Lee's place a few minutes ago and it looked like she was with the Kazekage."

"The hospital was most concerning." Shino softly joined the conversation.

"These two are fine guys." Kakashi joined in as well. "Officially Gaara is here for personal reasons, not as the Kazekage. We really have to get going, I'm sure you can all catch up later. Naruto, Hinata come along you really don't want to keep the Hokage waiting, now do you?"

Naruto looked up to his sensei and scowled. He couldn't prove it but he just knew that Kakashi had a slight grin on under that mask.

"Sorry guys, Kakashi sensei is right we've got to run, we'll catch up with you as soon as we can." Naruto said.

With that Naruto, Hinata and Kakashi headed off.

"That was interesting." Shino said in his quiet manner.

"Interesting? I'd say that's an understatement. When did Naruto and Hinata become a couple? Something really weird is going on." Shikamaru muttered.

---ooo---

Kakashi led them off to the Hyuga residence. He figured it be best to get the hard part over with as soon as possible. He quietly observed the two as they walked down the street holding hands. As they got closer and closer to the Hyuga manor he took note that Hinata was becoming obviously more and more tense. There seemed to be a slight delay for each degree of apprehension Hinata achieved before Naruto also became slightly more tense himself. Kakashi wondered if Naruto was being affected by Hinatas agitation or if he was simply nervous on his own. Hinata seemed hesitant at the front door herself but in the end steadied herself and pulled the bell chord. One of the servants almost immediately opened the door for them and seemed a bit taken aback by the three of them.

"Shuzu, could you please direct us to my father please." Hinata asked the servant.

"Of course, he is in the training area."

"Thank you. Kakashi sensei, this way please." She kept her grip on Narutos hand giving him no option other than to follow.

It didn't take long to wind their way through the manor and find her father practicing with her cousin Neji.

"Excuse me father." Hinata spoke causing the two to stop.

"Ah, Hinata it is good to see you out of the Hospital." Hiashi scowled slightly at the sight of his daughter holding hands with Naruto but to both Hinatas and Narutos relief he declined to comment on it. "Kakashi, it is good to see you as well, what brings the three of you here."

"Godaime Hokage would like to meet with you at your earliest convenience." Kakashi spoke up to spare Hinata. "I'm something of a messenger and chaperone. She decided that these two shouldn't be separated without further investigation and wishes to discuss that with you. I believe that she also wants to further interview the two of them shortly but wanted to let them eat, get cleaned up and changed first."

"I see. I guess that's where the chaperone part comes in?"

"Pretty much. It seems that the maximum distance these two can separate comfortably is about 20 feet. That seemed to be a bit problematic in regards to the whole cleaning up and getting changed issues. Seeing that we've already eaten and that Narutos apartment is a bit closer to the Hokages office I figured we'd stop by here first."

"Well I'm not one to go against the Hokages wishes. Considering that you said the she wished to see them shortly we can continue this discussion in Hinatas suite. I believe her private bath will allow us all to maintain a measure of decency and still allow the two of them to stay within that 20 feet." Hiashi replied.

While hardly happy about the idea of his 15 year old daughter being almost literally tied to any 15 year old boy, let alone one as unpredictable as Naruto, Hiashi was a bit more curious than upset at the moment. He had visited the hospital several times during the week and had gotten somewhat used to the sight of his daughter holding hands with Naruto. Three years earlier he would have been extremely upset over the very idea of his daughter even associating with Naruto but after watching Naruto defeat Neji he had an odd if grudging respect for the young man. He also enjoyed the obvious nervousness of the two of them.

It wasn't long before all four were in Hinatas suite. It was actually rather small considering the Hyuga family wealth. A single bed, a couple of dressers, a desk and two chairs took up most of the space. There was a window above the bed and two doors. One led to her private bath and the other to a walk in closet. Hiashi and Kakashi were both mildly amused at the sight of the rising discomfort of the two teenagers as they disengaged their hands and as they both became obviously embarrassed as Hinata gathered up some fresh clothing and disappeared into her private bath. The two adults watched in continuing amusement as Naruto became obviously more agitated as Hinata disappeared and got further away from him.

Naruto paced around a bit for a minute or so unable to keep still as the two older men watched him with mild amusement.

"So Naruto." Hiashi bore down on the young man with a withering stare. "Just what are your intentions with my daughter?"

Naruto felt as though he was about to fall over dead. He thought for sure that his heart had just stopped and was seriously thinking about jumping out the window.

"Naruto!" Hinata exclaimed as she burst through the door wrapped in a towel.

This provided to be too much for the young man and for a change he was the one to faint due to the combination of the barely covered Hinata and her fathers gaze.

"Well now, I certainly didn't expect that." Kakashi muttered.

"Hinata, get back in there, he's fine, just a little stressed." Hiashi exclaimed.

The young woman suddenly realized what stressed must have meant and she glared at her father before turning, stomping into the bath and slamming the door shut.

"Well that's something I certainly didn't expect either." Hiashi said as he stared at the door Hinata just slammed shut. "I never would have thought my daughter would be willing to stand up to me while wrapped in a towel."

"Apparently she is able to sense something from Naruto through the link. I wonder if he can do the same. I think it's safe to say that not much if anything will scare Hinata now, especially if she thinks something is threatening Naruto. I thought for sure I was going to need this for Hinata." Kakashi said as he reached into his belt kit. Pulling out a smaller kit, he opened it up to pull out a very small vial. Opening the vial he waved it under Narutos nose. The small amount of smelling salts inside were enough to snap Naruto awake.

"What…?" The young ninja started to say as he looked around and realized where and with who he was with.

"I apologize Naruto. That was a little unfair of me. Although it is nice to see that you haven't been completely contaminated by Jiraiyas reputation." Hiashi said with a smirk.

"Umm, that's o.k." The young man still looked flushed and very uncomfortable.

Naruto slowly got up and began to slowly walk around again.

He stopped before one of Hinatas dressers that had several pictures on it. There was one much like the single picture he had in his apartment. It was Kurenai sensei with Hinata, Shino and Kiba when they first formed team 8. Naruto looked over the rest of the pictures carefully.

"Wow Hinatas sister has gotten big." Naruto exclaimed fixating on a picture of a single hyuga woman.

"That's Hinatas mother Naruto, not her sister Hanabi, she passed away shortly after Hanabi was born." Hiashi said quietly.

"Oh! I'm sorry, she really looks like Hinatas sister." Naruto glanced to the floor to hide his embarrassment.

The three spent the next several minutes in an awkward silence before Hinata came out wearing a new pair of her typical black pants and a short white t-shirt. Her hair was still damp and she was continuing to towel dry it as she walked into her closet.

"Naruto-kun, could you get one of my holsters in the top drawer of the larger dresser please?" She asked from the closet.

"Sure." Naruto was the closest to it after all. Opening the drawer he was impressed with how neatly Hinata kept her basic gear. He noticed it was full of mostly kunai and shuriken but she had a few holsters as well. Pulling out the first holster he noticed it was empty by its weight. "How many kunai do you want?"

"Four should do."

Naruto filled one of the holsters pockets with the four knives.

"What about shuriken?"

"There should be about a dozen or so ready for the holster."

Naruto glanced around and sure enough there was a spring loaded thin wooden dowel that held a dozen shuriken held by a small latch that fit nicely in the holsters second pocket.

"Here you go." He said as he went to hand the holster to her as she entered the room pulling one of her gray and lavender jackets.

"One second." She reached around him and pulled a wrap off the top of the dresser. After quickly wrapping her right leg she took the holster from Naruto and strapped it on.

"Didn't you two just get out of the hospital? I can't imagine you two being assigned to a mission." Hiashi said.

"Doesn't hurt to be ready? Right Naruto?" Hinata said as she pulled out her belt pouch and clipped it on the back of her belt.

"Nope." He said with that ear to ear grin of his.

Hiashi looked over the blond boy wearing gray shorts and a dark t-shirt

"You seem a little lacking Naruto." Hiashi remarked.

"Yeah, well I did just get out of the hospital and they always try to take most of my stuff. I've only got a couple of kunai, four shuriken and two exploding tags."

"They let you keep that stuff in the hospital?"

"They wouldn't if they knew about all of it. They get especially upset when they find my tags after their first check but they usually don't care about my two spare kunai and I don't think they've ever found my four extra shuriken. I've gotten pretty good at hiding stuff from them. I'll reload properly once we stop by my place."

"We should get going, we don't want to keep the Hokage waiting and we still have to stop by Narutos apartment." Hinata spoke up. She couldn't quite explain it but she felt that her father was a little too accepting of Naruto. This was nothing like she feared the meeting between the two of them would be like and she found it more than a bit unnerving.

"I should take care of a few things but I'll most likely see the three of you at the Hokages office." Hiashi said as he left Hinatas room.

It didn't take long for the three of them to head out of the Hyuga manor, thread through the village to find themselves at Narutos apartment.

"Sorry it isn't cleaner. At least I took out the garbage before the mission. I forgot that once and boy did I regret it. I really haven't had a chance to properly clean the place since I got back." Naruto said slightly embarrassed as he opened the door and led them inside.

Narutos apartment was just a bit smaller than Hinatas suite. Only instead of a huge walk in closet Naruto had a small kitchenette. He didn't know it but his bathroom was much smaller but the bedroom itself was a similar size to Hinatas. He had less furniture so it seemed larger though. With a single chair in the kitchenette, Naruto left them in the bedroom, which pretty much doubled up as his living room. There Kakashi and Hinata could at least sit on the bed. Naruto made a quick stop in the kitchen and set some water to boil in the electric tea pot. He returned to the bedroom, quickly gathered some clean clothes and headed to the bathroom.

"I'll be right out." He said with a flash of a smile.

"Hmmm." Kakashi muttered as he looked around.

He'd seen Narutos place in worse condition the only real problem was a two and a half year old layer of dust in some spots. His attention though was on the pile of scrolls on the floor. Naruto always seemed to have several scrolls scattered about but this pile was a bit larger than what Naruto usually had. Kakashi decided to rummage through them. The scrolls were actually quite an odd combination. Many of them were really suitable to academy students. Kakashi quickly realized that as dense as he was Naruto actually knew all of the techniques and lessons from these scrolls.

"Looks like Naruto was being pretty sneaky here." Kakashi muttered.

"Why do you say that?" Hinata asked.

"Looks like Naruto was hiding something here." Kakashi replied as he continued to dig in the pile and pulled out a scroll. "Ah, here we go."

"What's that?"

"It looks like Tsunades hunch was correct, it's a high level lesson on medical jutsu." Kakashi continued to root through the pile and pulled out three more scrolls.

"So Naruto really was trying to teach himself medical jutsu."

"Looks that way."

Hinata looked around glancing at the single picture of team seven. It wasn't long before Naruto came out drying his hair with a towel dressed in black pants for a change and a black t-shirt. He froze when he saw Kakashi holding the four scrolls.

"So doing a little extra curricular studying?" Kakashi asked.

"Umm, well I guess so." Naruto looked down but was saved from further questioning by the tea pot as it began to whistle. "Gotta run!" He flashed his smile and disappeared into the kitchen.

Kakashi and Hinata looked at each other and both followed him into the other room. Naruto was peeling open an instant ramen cup and began to pour the boiling water into it as they entered.

"I'm sorry Kakashi sensei, I had to, you know what I mean?" Naruto said.

"Naruto, teams are assigned medical ninja so the other ninja can focus on their fighting skills. You could overload yourself if you continue what you've been doing. Just how much sleep have you been missing anyway?"

"Well I hadn't been sleeping too well lately anyway so I figured I might as well do something useful with the time."

Hinata walked up and took his hand in hers. "Its o.k. Naruto, if you hadn't I wouldn't be here right now."

Naruto looked into her eyes and turned to Kakashi. "I'll deal with any consequences if this is the result."

"That's going to be up to Tsunade-sama but I don't think you have much to worry about since it likely saved Hinata. Although next time you have trouble sleeping you might want to finish cleaning." Kakashi said with a chuckle.

"Well, she can't be any worse than the damn fox." Naruto looked determined but swallowed hard. He shook off the feeling of unease at the thought of facing Tsunade about this and softly pulled his hand away from Hinata. He picked up the instant ramen and finished it off in a few seconds.

"That should hold me off for a short time." Naruto said as he reached out and took Hinatas hand again. They returned to his bedroom/living room where he packed a holster with a half dozen kunai and a dozen shuriken. He pulled out a belt pouch, making sure it had another half dozen kunai and another dozen shuriken along with a dozen exploding tags. He added one of his new weapons scrolls and hooked it on his belt on his back left. He grabbed his black and orange jacket, pulled out gama-chan and smiled knowing that he had enough cash for several more stops at Ichiraku without pulling any cash from the bank.

"Think you've got enough there?" Kakashi said with a smile.

"I hope so, if she's really angry I might need a lot more tags."

With that all three laughed and headed out to the Hokage tower. Naruto and Hinata hand in hand along with Kakashi who had the pilfered medical scrolls.


	8. Chapter 8 Meeting at the Hokages

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

I made a minor change to ch 7. It was irritating me that I had Naruto know Hanabis name, I didn't think that he would so I changed things so he didn't know Hanabis name in a way that should work for what happens in this chapter regarding Hinata and Hanabi. Hopefully I don't have any glaring errors here in Ch 8. It felt a little rushed but considering that 24 hours ago it was roughly 100 words I'm pretty happy with it.

Most of Ch. 9 is done, it just needs editing and I want to thank those of you who corrected my ignorance on the proper use of 'chan'. I'm leaving the other times Hinata used it earlier in the story though and I found what I consider a 'cute' way of dealing with it in Ch 9. and it's not likely to appear after ch. 9, at least not the way it did earlier hahaha.

Anyway on to the story.

Ch. 8

Naruto, Hinata and Kakashi entered the Hokages office. Naruto and Hinata were still holding hands. They looked around seeing that in addition to everyone who had been at the hospital earlier, Shizune was next to Tsunade holding Ton-ton, Rock Lee was there with Gai sensei. Hiashi was there with an elder Hyuga. Temari was there standing near Gaara who was having a quiet conversation with Rock Lee. Shikamaru was also there sitting with Kurenai sensei, who was sitting about as far as she could from the Hyugas. Even Iruka sensei was there, although he seemed quite subdued by the sheer number of people and who some of the people were in the room.

"Gee, I thought we had a crowd back at the hospital." Naruto said as he entered.

"Naruto, Hinata we've got something of a problem here." Tsunade said.

"We? I don't know about you but everything seems fine to me." Typically Naruto flashed his overpowering smile much to Tsunades irritation as he and Hinata took a couple of spare seats.

"Fine? I don't think so. At the very least this whole incident signifies a dramatic change in the tactics used by the Akatsuki. Although I think it's safe to say that the cloud and grass villages won't be mounting any offensive operations any time soon. It's likely that none of the other villages are going to be willing to risk losing any of their own ninja considering that it looks like several hundred cloud, grass and sound ninja were completely wiped out."

"Look, we all know that the Akatsuki are after Naruto. I think we really lucked out this time and have probably taken away one of their options." Jiraiya jumped in.

"Looks like your hunch was right." Kakashi said to Tsunade as he walked over to her desk and put the four scrolls he found at Narutos apartment on it.

Tsunade glanced at Naruto narrowing her eyes coldly causing the blond ninja to swallow hard with a feeling of dread.

"Excuse me Godaime, I believe that although this whole Akatsuki problem is very important at this time we are a bit more concerned about this link between Uzumaki and Hinata." The elder Hyuga spoke up looking at Hinata with disdain.

Hinata looked down while Naruto narrowed his eyes and glared at the elder Hyuga much like the way Tsunade just did to him. Unnoticed by both Naruto and Hinata Tsunades expression shifted from amused irritation towards Naruto to a smoldering look of anger as her gaze bore down on the elder Hyuga. Kurenai sensei also held a similar gaze towards the older man with white eyes.

"I don't think I care for the way you're acting towards Hinata." Naruto said softly and slowly as an edge of anger crept into his voice.

The elder looked down his nose at Naruto. "I don't think I care one way or the other what you think. Although Hinata is considered superfluous to the clan she still bears the Hyuga name and as a Hyuga she should not be associating with the likes of something like you."

"You know I've been hearing crap like that about myself all of my life and couldn't care less when some idiot starts spouting off that garbage but insult Hinata like that and you're going to seriously piss me off." Naruto exclaimed.

"You dare call me an idiot?"

"I'll do a lot more if you keep talking about Hinata like she's worthless."

"Alright knock it off already, both of you." Tsunade yelled as she slammed her hand on her desk.

"Knock it off? I don't think so." Naruto stood up as his voice got louder. "This whole 'prestigious clan' bull is so messed up. These morons keep screwing over their own family with that stupid seal and a bunch of inane rules about 'branch' family and 'main' family. They have no regard for their families strongest member. Between these yahoos basically torturing their own family and Itachi I think it's very obvious that there's a lot of things wrong with some of the 'prestigious clans' here in Konoha." Naruto was obvious furious as he vented.

"I said knock it off Naruto." Tsunade said softly. "And you, mister high mucky muck elder of the Hyuga clan, if you ever so much as hint that Naruto is some_thing_ ever again in my presence I will personally pop your head like the infected pimple you are so trying so hard to become. In case I haven't made myself clear on this matter, you would do well to consider Naruto my younger brother. If that isn't clear enough for everybody in this village I will adopt him as my son and put this crap to rest once and for all."

The entire room became deathly silent, even Naruto was stunned into an open mouthed shocked silence. After a few moments Hinata squeezed his hand having never let it go through his rant and tugged his arm slightly. For a growingly common change he actually got the hint and sat down quietly next to her.

"If I may." Hiashi spoke up and looked to Tsunade who nodded. "Although I believe it could have been handled better, Naruto does bring up some valid points."

"Hiashi!" The Hyuga elder exclaimed. "You may be the head of the clan but that does not mean you can do or say whatever you want, especially outside of the clan."

"Honorable elder." Hiashi bowed to the older Hyuga. "I will not lose any more of my family because of our internal issues. Neji was returned to me because of Naruto. I may not agree with him about Hinatas strength but over the past three years I have come to believe that she is hardly superfluous to the clan."

"You're wrong about Hinata." Naruto stood again. "If I had to fight a Hyuga, Hinata is the only one I think is even worth worrying about in the whole Hyuga clan. If you people are basing that moronic opinion that she's weak because she can't beat her little sister, I'll kick all of your asses with ease. You're all obviously too stupid to realize that the only reason why Hinata can't fight Hanabi is that Hanabi looks like their mother. Geez and people think I'm an idiot. I've already beat Neji and he's the one everyone assumes is the best in the clan. I'm pretty sure that I can avoid, if not outright beat, the 64 and 128 palms techniques now and I've figured out two maybe three ways depending on how you count them to beat Hakkeshou Kaiten. I haven't been able to figure out a decent way past Hinatas Shugohakke, especially since she's usually a bit faster than I am. About the only way I think I might be able beat it would be to overload her with a few thousand clones and good luck to any of you who think you can generate more clones than I can. After that fight last week out in Wind country, if you put me and Hinata together and give us a week to practice none of the rest of the Hyuga clan could touch us even if all you worked together. I'd be willing to bet that the two of us could give even Tsunade and Jiraiya a run for their money, right Hinata."

Hinata was stunned by Narutos words and could only nod yes numbly as she smiled softly.

_'So this is what Neji was talking about.'_ Hiashi thought to himself as he stared intently at the young man standing before him. _'Even without using the Byakugan it is obvious that he has absolute faith in himself. Further he has absolute faith in Hinata as well. Not a single doubt. Interesting, very interesting. He can barely stand but he's willing to challenge the entire Hyuga clan for Hinata.'_

Naruto suddenly became obviously unsteady as a wave of dizziness passed through him causing him to sit back down rather abruptly.

"You're not doing anything in a week and until you are fully recovered to my satisfaction you can forget about any training. Argue with me and I'll put you back in the hospital myself." Tsunade said as he settled into his seat.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Naruto said in an uncharacteristic meek manner. Hinata reached into her belt kit and pulled out a ration bar and without a word handed it to him.

"Godaime-Hokage, if Naruto does indeed have a method to counter any of the Hyuga techniques maybe we should have some sort of official assessment of his ideas. I think it would be in the best interests of the village as a whole. I believe he said he needed a week working with Hinata. Why don't we run a series of matches to pit some of the Hyuga clan against the two of them a week after you clear him for training?" Hiashi asked as he eyed the silent interplay of his daughter and Naruto as the young man nodded to her and started eating the ration bar.

"You know I think that is a very good idea Hiashi-san." Tsunade said with a smile.

The Hyuga elder was also smiling and with a glance between him and Hiashi he nodded.

"I don't think we need the entire clan for this, considering it would be nothing more than a few assessment matches." Hiashi said.

"O.K. then one week after I clear Naruto for training we'll stage the assessment matches in the stadium. In the mean time I'll keep the two of them in one of the guest suites. I don't think it would be proper for Hinata to stay with Naruto at his place or for him to stay with her at the Hyuga manor. I also want to keep them together until I can fully understand this link between the two of them."

"I find that acceptable. Thank you for addressing this issue. I leave the details to you and I will have Hanabi drop off some of Hinatas stuff tomorrow morning. It is starting to get a little on the late side if you don't mind we will be off now." Hiashi said with a bow.

"Of course. I will notify you when we have a date for these matches Hiashi-san." Tsunade said bowing her head slightly before Hiashi and the Hyuga elder got up and left her office.

"O.K. lets see, next on the list." Tsunades gaze traveled across the room to settle on Rock Lee and Gai sensei, much to their obvious discomfort.

"Tsunade-sama, you can't be upset with Lee or Gai sensei for what I've done!" Naruto exclaimed as he noticed who Tsunades withering gaze had settled on.

"Naruto you can keep quiet and just listen. Keep in mind that your actions can often have consequences on others." Her gaze returned to Lee and Gai. "To be honest I'm not sure what, if anything I should do to the two of you. I am still unhappy with Gai for teaching Lee about the eight inner gates whenever I think about it. Now it seems that Lee here has taken it upon himself to teach Naruto about them."

There were a couple of gasps around the room while Naruto hung his head in embarrassment.

"Before we continue though, Naruto I believe there are still a few people here who do not know the story of your seal." Tsunades look softened as she looked at Naruto.

"It's o.k., the only ones here that don't know about the Kyuubi and me is Lee and Shikamaru. I told Sakura and Temari when we were on our way to Suna to help Gaara and Gaara has probably known for years, Hinata found out during the last mission. I'm pretty sure most everyone else here knew about the fox years earlier.

"Wait, you and the Kyuubi?" Lee asked looking completely confused.

"I was born on the day the Kyuubi attacked Konoha." Naruto said quietly. "The fourth Hokage couldn't kill it but he was able to seal it inside of me."

The room was again silent for a moment, Hinata squeezed Narutos hand reassuringly again before Tsunade continued.

"O.K. as Naruto said most everyone here knew about the Kyuubi being sealed within Naruto. I'm sure Shikamaru had his own suspicions about Naruto and Lee probably did as well, if you want to know more you guys will have ask him later. Now we've been assuming that it was opening all eight gates that allowed you to pull a nine tailed form and suppress the Kyuubi. Is that right?"

"Yes." Naruto looked down again while Hinata tightened her grip on his hand.

"Go on Naruto." Tsunade prodded him.

"I was so angry." He said quietly. "Hinata had just pulled me away from the fox. I never thought that anyone would ever care for me enough to face off against the fox like that. When I saw the javelin go through her I felt completely helpless and I didn't care about myself anymore. It was so strange. I've never been so furious yet I was completely calm, that's never happened before. Things got a little fuzzy after I released Shimon, the eighth gate but I'm pretty sure that I faced the damn fox and pulled its chakra away from it, usually I would ask it to give me its chakra. I don't really remember anything after that."

"Oh! Naruto the fox wanted me to tell you to never do that again." Hinata interrupted.

"You released Shimon!" Gai and Lee yelled out in stereo.

"You should be dead Naruto!" Lee continued.

"The only reason why I'm not was probably because of the fox inside of me."

"Well lets not go over every little detail. Gai, Lee I want you to promise me that you will not teach anyone else how to open any of the eight inner gates. If you ever get tempted to do so again, talk to me first. I know Naruto can be extremely persuasive in his own way so I won't be assigning any sort of punishment to either of you and if I find out that either of you are punishing yourselves I'll ban you from any training at all for at least a week." Tsunade said with a small grin as Gai and Lee's faces fell.

"Tsunade, just to be sure I'll drag Naruto over to see Gai sensei and Lee one day once he's recovered a bit more and we'll all go over what Naruto knows about the gates just in case he missed anything from Lee. Naruto has been pushing things a bit lately and even though he managed to open all eight gates there is a good chance that there are things he's not fully aware of." Kakashi said.

"O.K. we'll go with that, Gai, Lee you can go."

"Thank you Godaime-sama!" The two green clad ninja cried out while they nearly tripped over each other in their rush to get out of Tsunades office. Although Lee did manage to flash a smile to Naruto coupled with an expression that Naruto just knew meant that Lee was going to really grill him about his opening all eight gates.

"Is it me or are they talking in stereo more?" Naruto asked to nobody in particular.

Tsunades gaze settled on the four scrolls Kakashi had left on her desk earlier.

"About these." Tsunades cold, calculating stare was back and focused on Naruto. "One of the big reasons this kind of stuff is restricted is because plenty of novices had managed to nearly get themselves killed tying to learn how to do medical jutsu without proper supervision. I don't think we ever actually lost anyone but there were a few that ruined themselves and had to give up being shinobi. In your particular case you've got so much chakra I'd worry more about anyone you actually tried to treat with whatever bizarre medical jutsu you've come up with. I can't imagine what could happen to someone who was injured if you pumped too much chakra into them, especially during the heat of a combat situation. We seem to have gotten incredibly lucky with Hinata here and other than the odd link between the two of you there doesn't seem to have been any harm done. In fact I suspect that link may be the real reason why the two of you are still alive. For that reason I'm not going to give you a hard time about any of this but I don't want you doing any more secret training in medical jutsu. In fact I don't think I want you doing any more secret training in anything. From now on I want you to either get advance approval from Iruka, Kakashi, Jiraiya or myself before you attempt anything new to you. Do you understand?"

"Yes Tsunade-sama." Naruto answered quietly.

"We're reasonably certain you transformed one of your clones into either myself or Sakura to get these." Tsunade said as she tapped the medical lesson scrolls. "I hate to admit it but that was a pretty good job of intelligence gathering but this is another thing I don't want to find out that you've been doing anymore, at least with any of us."

Naruto smiled slightly at the small complement. At this point he was actually pretty ecstatic he still hadn't acquired a new set of bruises or ringing eardrums from Tsunades anger at his actions. He was definitely ahead of the game. He glanced at Hinatas fingers intertwined with his own and his smile increased just a bit more.

"Shizune, Sakura could you make sure that these are returned to their proper place. As Hiashi said it's starting to get late, you two can call it a night, we're just about done here."

"Hai Tsunade-sama." Shizune said as she picked up the scrolls. Sakura glanced around a bit and with a barely audible sigh followed Shizune out.

"Kurenai sensei, since you are on inactive duty would you mind taking a mission to be their chaperone in the suite as well." Tsunade asked.

"Not at all Godaime, it'll be my pleasure. I will have to swing by my home to get some stuff first though." Kurenai answered.

"That won't be a problem, take Shikamaru with you to carry everything, it'll do his lazy ass some good to do some honest work."

Temari snickered at that line and Shikmaru decided it wasn't worth even commenting on, he simply sighed in resignation.

"Tsunade, Temari and I should get an early start home tomorrow. I don't think there's much else we would needed for here. Please keep us abreast of any new developments. Thank you for allowing us to be here for this, it was quite interesting. It's nice to see that other villages have similar 'family' issues as we do in Suna." Gaara said before getting up and turning to Naruto. "Naruto, please take care. I'm happy that you managed to surprise them once again but I doubt the Akatsuki will give up on capturing you and Kyuubi. I don't think it would be good for the whole world if they succeed in capturing all of the tailed beasts. I don't have many people I consider real friends and in many ways you were my first friend so again please be careful."

"Gaara, I haven't said this in a while but 'Believe it!' They're not taking me down and they're going to regret even trying." Naruto stood up and grasped Gaaras hand in a firm hand shake.

"Tsunade, we'll continue keeping our advanced strike teams at the ready. As long as the Akatsuki continue to be a threat we will share any intelligence. With a bit of luck maybe Suna will be able to take out a few of these Akatsuki ourselves. Right now Sand only has the one shared kill of Sasori while Leaf not only shares Sasori but has Kakuzu and possibly Hidan as well."

"Hey what about that Deidara freak?" Naruto jumped in.

"Sorry Naruto we have some intelligence that Deidara faked his death." Tsunade said.

"Damn. I'm sorry Gaara I really wish we had gotten that one for you."

"Don't worry about it. That just means that I still have a chance to return the favor of my 'death' to that one myself." Gaaras normally reserved expression briefly flared with an expression of incredibly cold malice.

"Gaara, Tsunade and I talked about this earlier and I'm going to see about splitting my intelligence networks communication lines so that much of the raw information goes to Suna as well as Konoha. Hopefully that will increase the odds of catching some more of the Akatsuki with their pants down." Jiraiya joined in.

"Thank you Jiraiya, it will be much appreciated." Gaara answered.

Tsunade looked at Naruto and sighed. "I had hoped to hold on to this a little longer but this is as good a time as we're likely to get. It's pretty common knowledge that as near as we can tell, Sasuke killed Orochimaru a few weeks ago. We've been getting some reports of rumors that he is going to bring peace to the world or some such nonsense. He seems to be building his own organization and we're assuming that he's going to be going after Itachi. With a little luck he might take out a few Akatsuki himself. That might also explain their change in tactics to get Naruto. It looks like they're feeling pressured themselves."

"That should make taking out some of them ourselves a little easier. I think we should leave on that note, we will keep in touch. Thank you again." Gaara said.

"Hey slacker." Temari finally spoke up and smiled. "Good work with Hidan, sometimes I think there's hope for you yet. Naruto, Sakura it was good to see you again. Hopefully we'll finish this business soon and we'll be able to spend some time during one of our visits."

"Hold up a second Temari, Gaara. Kurenai and I will accompany you to the guest facility, it's on the way to Kurenais home." Shikamaru said as he got up and nodded to Tsunade

"Wait a second Kurenai." Tsunade said as she rummaged around in her desk. "Here's a key to the third suite in the guest facility."

"Hinata, Naruto I'm sure Shikamaru will have me back shortly so I'll see you both in a little while at the suite." Kurenai said.

With that Gaara and Temari joined Shikamaru and Kurenai as they all left Tsunades office.

Tsunade reached back into her desk and pulled out two more keys. She walked around her desk and handed Hinata and Naruto one apiece. "These are also for the third suite. Although I doubt you two will need both keys, just in case the link fades and you can separate you might need both of them. I'm pretty sure that Jiraiya and Kakashi have a few things to take care of so I'd like you to escort them to the suite."

"Of course Tsunade-sama." Iruka said as he got up and bowed deeply to Tsunade.

Jiraiya and Kakashi both said goodnight to everyone and vanished.

"Now Iruka, I'm sure you've got to get up early tomorrow so I think it'll be o.k. for you to leave these two alone for a little while before Kurenai gets there. I believe the two of you can be trusted. Right?" Tsunade said as her eyes bored into Naruto.

"What?" Naruto practically jumped up as Tsunades gaze settled on him.

Tsunade sighed deeply. "I guess I have to spell it out for you, since it looks like somehow beyond any reasonable expectations you've managed not to be completely corrupted by that damn pervert during your training. Basically I think that the two of you could use a little bit of time alone together but I don't want either of you to think about taking advantage of my hospitality. In other words, when you're alone together you had better keep your clothes on."

Naruto and Hinata both blushed brightly at Tsunades words.

"Well, I, umm, I mean we, uh… Hinata help me out here." Naruto looked to her desperately but she just turned bright red and stared at the floor.

"Naruto, the words you want are 'thank you'." Tsunade said as she smiled.

"Just don't forget what she said Naruto." Iruka said as he elbowed his former student.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama." Naruto quietly said.

"Yes, thank you, Tsunade-sama, we do appreciate this." Hinata joined in.

"One last thing Naruto, just when did you learn the word 'inane' anyway?"

Everyone laughed as Iruka led the two teenagers out as they all said goodnight to Tsunade. Left alone finally, she reached into her desk and pulled out a bottle of sake.

Iruka led his two young charges through the quiet streets. It had gotten rather late and they didn't talk as they wound their way through the streets to the Hokages guest facility. It was an unassuming building looking much like one of the typical manor houses that many of the better off families of Konoha lived in. Their keys also worked in the front gate and they wound their way through the main hall until they found a door with a number three on it.

"O.K. you two, don't forget what Tsunade said but otherwise have a goodnight." Iruka said with a smile as he turned and left the two in the doorway. In something of a haze they walked into the suite and nearly collapsed onto the couch.


	9. Chapter 9 feelings

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

The beginning of some Nuru-Hina fluff in the second half.

Ch. 9

It had been a long day. Finally alone Tsunade sighed and poured herself some sake. There was a soft knock on her door.

_'Damn, will this day ever end?'_ She thought.

"Yes, come in." She sighed again.

"Tsunade-sama?" A young pink haired girl timidly entered.

"Sakura?" Tsunade was surprised at the unsure and uncomfortable state Sakura seemed to be in. "What's wrong?"

"It's Naruto." The young woman timidly looked down. "Well more like my feelings for him and this whole Hinata thing."

"Oh dear." Tsunade said softly. _'I'm going to need more to drink.'_ She thought as she polished off the first cup of sake and poured a second.

"I'm not sure about anything anymore."

"Sakura, I thought you looked at Naruto like a brother? This new relationship with Hinata shouldn't bother you."

"I know and I feel horrible about that too. It's just that every time I look at the two of them I feel jealous. Since he came back I've been getting closer and closer to Naruto and I was sometimes starting to think he wasn't anywhere near as bad as I remember. Granted sometimes I thought he was much worse but considering what I've heard about Jiraiya-sama I figured it's amazing he isn't ridiculously worse. He even started to look cute to me sometimes, well when he wasn't annoying me anyway."

"What about Sasuke?"

"Oh!" The young woman blushed. "I don't know anymore. Three years ago I would have done anything for Sasuke." She hesitated. "I even asked him to take me with him when he ran off to Orochimaru. I didn't care about anything else, I loved him so much." Tears began to well up in Sakuras eyes.

"That bad?" This one surprised Tsunade.

"When we caught up to him a few months ago and I first saw him all those feelings came rushing back to me. I felt even more attracted to him than I remembered. I couldn't see anything else but him and I was completely paralyzed for a few seconds. But…then I thought, I thought he was going to kill Naruto and I got so angry, I was going to stop him if I had to kill him myself. I began to think that even though he was obviously right there in front of me, that the Sasuke I loved died long ago. Naruto has become one of the best friends I've ever had. He's always had a crush on me going all the way back to our academy days but I always thought of him as annoying, well annoying at best anyway. But despite the fact that he thought he was madly in love with me, I'm one of the big reasons why he's so desperate to bring Sasuke back."

"You are? Oh that's right he promised you he would didn't he?"

"Yes…at first I thought it was just Naruto being Naruto but over the years he was gone I realized that he really loved me. So much so, that he'd give up his own feelings for me just to make me happy, even if that meant I was going to be with someone else."

"You can't latch on to that type of love in Naruto, at least not now. When it comes to his friends he loves all of them that way. It's not something he's likely to admit to anyone though. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to help you here Sakura."

"I know but I had to talk to someone about all this and I didn't think any of the others would be very understanding. Seriously can you see me talking to Ino about even the slightest possibility of me liking Naruto more than Sasuke? I think her head would explode, sometimes I think my head would explode if I really thought about it all."

"I understand, listening I can do. Besides who knows I may even be able to help a little after all." She paused. "To be honest I was rather surprised that Naruto grew so attached to Hinata so quickly. I've been looking into the two of them and I discovered some interesting things that may help you out. Although knowing some of this may make things worse and this could be a little painful for you."

Sakuras eyes widened a bit at that. "Worse?"

"Possibly, when things like this happen, it sometimes makes people face things about themselves that they don't care to see. I suspect that you're actually part of the reason why Naruto has fallen for Hinata so hard and so quickly. From what I've been able to gather she's liked him for at least as long as he's liked you. I suspect that at least since that promise he made to you a small part of Naruto stopped thinking about you in a romantic manner, if it hadn't started even sooner. I think it could have started when I first came back to Konoha, when I healed Sasuke from the effects of being attacked by Itachi. Naruto got a front row seat to your extremely emotional response to Sasuke waking up. You probably didn't notice but he actually backed off and left the room. Of course he seemed to quickly jump back to his normal self as he then proceeded to bully me into seeing Lee immediately. On most levels he probably still loved you and most of him wanted to be your boyfriend but deep down a part of him felt that you and Sasuke belonged together. So are you sure you want to know more?"

"I think I'd rather know than not, it may hurt but I'd rather understand."

Tsunade smiled softly at her apprentice. "Well going back over the years it's pretty obvious that you were especially brutal to Narutos feelings. Kakashi even mentioned it in his first assessment report on team 7. I sometimes think that we're all very lucky that he didn't take your treating him as if he were some sort of nasty thing that you didn't want in your life in a different way. Sometimes that kind of treatment can cause one person to start hating the other but Naruto simply doesn't work that way. You can hurt Naruto all you want and it simply doesn't bother him, hurt one of his friends though and it's a much different story. The fact that he doesn't hate most of the village after years of similar treatment is amazing and is probably one of the reasons why he never hated you no matter how brutally you turned him down. No matter how many times you rejected him he just kept on hoping and trying."

"It's not like I have to say yes every time someone asks me out." Sakura said quietly.

"No of course not but there are better ways to turn someone down than the way you usually treated Naruto, no matter how annoying they may be." Tsunade felt bad at the sight of Sakura slumping down at her words.

"You're right." Sakura said in a very small voice.

"Now I had to really look but it seems that the few times Hinata and Naruto interacted she was the complete opposite. He quite possibly never realized it, at least not consciously but as near as I could tell she pretty much always supported him. I think she was the only girl in your age group to do anything at all along those lines. If she hadn't been so shy she probably would have caught his attention much sooner. That first chuunin exam you all took years ago was especially interesting. There's some video from the matches that was revealing. You know he cheered both of you on, in fact I suspect that it is because of Naruto that both you and Hinata fared as well as you did."

"But I drew a tie against Ino and Hinata was totally dominated by Neji."

"Yes that's true and I talked to Kakashi about that. Seems that if it weren't for Naruto you would have lost completely, not tied. It also seems that Naruto is the one who triggered Hinatas fierce determination to even face Neji at all. Also after Hinata lost Naruto jumped down to check on her and it seems that he pretty much vowed to beat Neji because of her. I don't believe you got that much attention from him at the time?"

Sakura blinked in shock, she had forgotten much. "I don't know, another fight was going on when I woke up and Naruto was watching it. I forgot that he leapt down for Hinata."

"The really funny thing back then though, was that a month later, Naruto actually beat Neji. That was the first time he was able to intentionally draw on the nine tails power in a fight you know. He freaked out quite a number of the older people here at the village with that one from what I heard. What's truly amazing though is the effect that had on the Hyuga family. Because of Naruto, Hinatas father Hiashi was reconciled with Neji over the death of Neji's father who happened to be Hiashi's twin brother. In fact the Hyuga family has been working on making some rather major internal changes to prevent any further tension between the main and branch families, all because of Naruto. Although I doubt they'd ever admit he was the catalyst for that and what we saw tonight is a pretty strong indicator that there is plenty of friction over whatever changes are going on. After Narutos conversation with Hiashi earlier I'm expecting some more interesting stuff in the future for the Hyuga family."

"You don't actually expect him to be able to take on any of the Hyuga and win do you? I mean sure he beat Neji years ago but I don't know if he could do it again."

"Sakura, you of all people should know better than to ever underestimate Naruto Uzumaki. If he's claiming to have two or three ways to beat the best Hyuga techniques it wouldn't surprise me if he really had six or seven."

Sakuras eyes widened. "You believe him." She paused for a moment and looked down shamefully. "You're right though I should know better."

"Sakura, just keep in mind that no matter what, these days I would never bet against Naruto. Getting back to our new couple, from what I've been able to gather, Naruto and Hinata had a brief encounter before his match with Neji. Seems that Naruto was actually feeling unsure of himself before the match and Hinata re-inspired him."

"All of that really doesn't seem to be enough to explain what's happening now between them." Sakura said quietly.

"To be brutally honest it shouldn't be." Tsunade said. "Even when you factor in an additional half dozen missions or so that Naruto and Hinata went on together before he left with Jiraiya there just doesn't seem to be enough to justify how strongly Naruto feels. The only seemingly solid explanation is that over the years Hinata was the only girl among your peers that showed any sort of positive interest in Naruto, granted she was often incoherent in front of him, even fainted because of him a few times and he was too clueless to know why. Couple that with Narutos own history of loneliness and a lot more becomes possible. Well once she got through his thick skull anyway."

Tsunade paused and looked at her depressed pupil. This next part was going to be especially hard on the young woman.

"Sakura, this is going to be a bit more painful I'm afraid."

"That's o.k. I want to know."

"Please don't feel like this is your fault, it's not but you are a part of it."

"I understand, please go on."

"Well that mission when you saw Naruto change into a four tail fox form was especially hard on Naruto. I know from Yamatos report that you tried to shield Naruto from the knowledge that he was the one who hurt you but Yamato felt that Naruto needed to know that he was the one who was really responsible. Also during his training with Jiraiya a similar incident occurred and Naruto almost killed Jiraiya. Having hurt a second person of the people closest to him was severely depressing Naruto. That's on top of the depression he had been feeling about not being able to rescue Sasuke after you guys encountered him and Orochimaru. You'd likely never know it but he had gotten to the point where he was starting to even lose his appetite." Tsunade paused to let Sakura absorb all of that before continuing.

"It's my understanding that the subject of his old feelings for you recently came up. I believe that he had been flipping between seeing you as a romantic interest and seeing you as a sister. He apparently decided that you would never love him romantically, even if your feelings for Sasuke changed. He then came to the conclusion that nobody should love him like that because he was afraid of what might happen if the damn nine tails took him again. It may very well be the only thing Naruto has ever truly given up on in his entire life, at least I hope it is. Not so much that he gave up on you but that he gave up on all love in a romantic sense. Between that belief and the seemingly mere act of surrendering to that belief Naruto was not doing very good."

Sakuras eyes grew wide. "That's terrible!" How can anyone ever think that about themselves?"

"Actually Sakura it happens quite often in this world. Granted I doubt anyone other than Naruto has the pressures he does because of the nine tailed fox. The way things were going Gaara would have but now that he no longer holds Shukaku, that no longer applies. Well during the recent battle Naruto not only went into his four tailed state but took it a step further and went to five tails. This not only happened in front of Hinata but because of her Byakugan she was able to face and challenge the fox demon. Somehow she was then able to pull Naruto out of the five tailed state."

"Oh my, that's what he meant earlier." Sakura said softly.

"Also as of now Hinata was the only 'precious person' as the fourth Hokage would say, to Naruto who has really encountered him in the four tailed state that wasn't hurt. Yamato is close but he simply hadn't known Naruto long enough to matter when Yamato witnessed his four tails state. Kakashi has only seen a few glimpses of Narutos Kyuubi state during training and during the mission to rescue Gaara to my understanding. Add in the fact that she stood up to the demon to pull him away from it and the desolate loneliness he was feeling romantically, along with what little past they do have, which was unfortunately a lot for him, it was simply a good combination for Naruto to simply dive in without looking back. You know how he gets."

"Yeah I know." Sakura said before her voice dropped to barely a whisper. "He's never going to let her go is he?"

"That much I think is safe to say. I pity anyone foolish enough to even attempt to separate those two now. Naruto stood up to Gaara transformed as Shukaku to protect you, Sasuke and everyone in the village. This time around he dominated the Kyuubi and took its full power because of Hinata. Hinata now, well you could probably tell after the earlier meeting but lets just say that she's had some family issues and in some ways was as desperate as Naruto. After she stood up to the damn fox itself and pulled Naruto away from it, I seriously doubt anyone could possibly intimidate that girl now as far as Naruto is concerned. I'm not sure if you've noticed but the stutter she always had around him is completely gone now. To have him finally notice her in a way she quite possibly had dreamed of for years is far more than she probably ever hoped for. We have two people who are falling madly in love with each other that have survived challenging an actual demon for each other. I don't think either one of them is ever going to let the other go now."

"I guess I'm going to have to learn not to be jealous then."

"That's probably a good idea. One more thing." Tsunade paused giving Sakura a rather intense stare. "Is there anything going on between you and Gaara?"

"What? Me and Gaara? Oh! You mean that hug earlier don't you. No there's nothing between us. I guess I was just feeling confused about Naruto and Hinata."

"Good. Don't take this the wrong way but I don't think it'd be a good idea for Gaara to develop any romantic ties to any of the women here in Konoha. He's become quite popular among the younger people of Suna, especially the girls apparently. If he were to acquire a girlfriend from another village it would likely cause riots in Suna. Gaara is probably going to have problems nearly equal to Naruto romantically speaking. I don't think he needs any Leaf village girls making that problem even worse. That's not even going into the fact that he's the Kazekage. The Sand village council would probably have a collective seizure if Gaara found a girlfriend here."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking." Sakura said quietly.

"That's quite alright. You and I have a very close relationship and you are close to Gaara too, well as close as most people have come anyway. You just have to remember that our jobs as village leaders often make relationships of all sorts difficult. Considering the company and location when you hugged Garra I wouldn't worry this time but just remember he's the Kazekage when he's out in public. Also, don't dare do anything like that when you're visiting Suna, the young women there will probably kill you for it. If you're lucky anyway."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"O.K. it's late and we've all had a long day, you should head home and get some sleep. I've got a few things to take care of before I check in on Naruto and Hinata." Tsunade gave Sakura a soft smile.

"Thank you for all of this." Sakura stood up, smiled herself and left. Allowing Tsunade to pour herself one final glass of sake before getting up herself and heading over to the guest facility.

---ooo---

Naruto was completely baffled as to how, but somehow he wound up alone with Hinata at one of the guest suites near the Hokages residence. In many ways it was similar to the suite they had stayed in at Suna. Iruka had escorted them to the suite but he left pretty much as soon as the door was opened. It had been a long and exhausting day, even if he had been unconscious in a hospital bed until some fuzzy time in the afternoon. He was sitting on the couch with Hinata and they were both semi-dozing as they softly held each others hand.

"Hinata?"

"Yes?" She looked up and he thought he was going to lose himself in her eyes.

"Umm." He shook off the almost dizzy feeling, this was important. Possibly the most important thing he could say to her at this point in their relationship. "Remember before the chuunin exam years ago when we talked before the finals?"

"Of course I do Naruto."

"Well remember that I told you that I act tough all the time because I'm embarrassed about how I screw up all the time?"

"Of course, I told you how it was really inspiring to watch because you make mistakes and have the guts to get back up and try again, I still consider that true strength." Hinata replied as she continued to look into his eyes.

"If you keep looking at me like that I'll never be able to finish." Naruto said as he leaned over and with his free hand tousled her hair a bit before he got very quiet and serious.

"I'm scared Hinata." He squeezed her hand slightly. "I don't want to do anything that will screw this up, let alone screw it up all the time like I screw everything else up. I don't know anything about being a boyfriend or whatever it is I am with you now. I'm so scared that I'm going to mess up and lose you. I've never been so afraid of anything so much before. Even the times during a mission, when I was afraid I was going to die, it was always quick, this fear seems like its going to last forever."

"I understand Naruto. If it helps you should know that I don't really know what I'm doing either. I never really talked to any of the other girls about stuff like this. They all thought I was strange because I liked you the few times it came up. We will get through this, at the very least we can work together on it, right?"

"Of course, I never want to let you go." Naruto gathered his courage. "So does that mean that we are actually boyfriend and girlfriend now?"

Hinata blushed slightly but smiled. "Yes silly, what else would you call us?" All traces of her typical stutter when talking to him had vanished he noticed.

"I don't know, I've never had a girlfriend before or anything like that. This feels like it's more than I imagined having a girlfriend would be and nothing like all that stuff Jiraiya writes about all the time."

"I think you're right it is more but we'll use boyfriend and girlfriend for now." Hinata squeezed his hand again.

"Hinata?" Naruto looked at her with fear in his eyes this time. "Are we really 'in love'? It's an awfully big word you know."

Hinata paused as she noticed the fear and squeezed his hand again. "Naruto…I really don't know either. I think we are, at least we are more so than almost everyone else I know but it is very soon for us to be using that word I think."

"Thank you for understanding, for a second there I was worried that you would think I didn't want to be with you, because I really do but this is all so new and I don't want to screw things up by saying the wrong things or the right things at the wrong time. You know, you're right we can work on all of this stuff together." He said as he breathed a sigh of relief.

She suddenly started blushing again and softly smiled. "There is something though that I want us to do now."

"Sure whatever you want." Naruto looked at her blushing face slightly confused.

"Come here, I think we should be standing." She smiled as she got up, pulled him up with her and looked around as she took off her jacket and tossed it onto one of the arms of the couch.

"Um, didn't Tsunade say to keep our clothes on?" Naruto asked with a slight tinge of panic in his voice.

"Jackets don't count silly." Hinata said as she stared into his eyes.

"Oh, o.k. then." Naruto answered as he took off his own and tossed it onto Hinatas, it still made him feel uneasy though.

They were in a guest suite for visiting dignitaries and as such it had certain features that weren't present even in a place like her home. Her eyes locked onto a fountain in one corner of the main room, it was near the door and set back in its own alcove. Hinatas smile got slightly larger.

"That will do quite nicely." She said softly as she led Naruto to stand near the fountain.

"What will do?" Naruto said as he began to get nervous, something was going on and he felt more clueless than he had ever felt before.

"Stand right here. Now put your arms around me." She stood in front of him and looked deep into his eyes. She gently reached up to put her arms around his neck.

Naruto was feeling strange, her eyes had become hypnotic and he almost felt that he was drowning in them.

Hinata smiled at the slightly dazed expression on his face as she spoke ever so softly, just above a whisper. "Close your eyes and kiss me Naruto."

Naruto somehow knew that he shouldn't say anything now. He closed his eyes, tilted his head to the side and down as Hinata lifted hers up slightly. Although it was a bit clumsy their lips met and they softly pressed them together. Hinata moved her hands to the back of his head and ran her fingers through his hair sending chills down his back. Naruto slowly began to caress the small of her back with his left hand to send a slight tingle up her spine. Hinata shifted slightly and grabbed the back of his head and forcefully pressed her lips firmly into his. She ran her tongue between his lips slowly forcing them to open slightly. Her tongue pressed in and she ran it over the edges of his teeth for a brief moment before going deeper to softly touch his tongue with hers. Narutos eyes popped open in surprise and he watched as Hinata slowly opened her own. She pulled her tongue back to her own mouth and pulled slightly away to end their first kiss.

Naruto was completely stunned. He couldn't think anymore he just simply seemed to be falling forever into her endless eyes. He swayed slightly and suddenly lost his balance falling onto his rear end right in front of her. This got a giggle out of Hinata.

"Well I think we didn't screw that up." She said as she continued to giggle.

Naruto slowly became aware of his surroundings and realized he was on the floor. He looked up at Hinata who was still standing over him. He couldn't help but notice that her shirt was short and therefore open at the bottom and he could see most of her stomach and the edge of her lower ribs.

"Umm, Hinata. Could I…" He blushed furiously.

Hinata looked down at her boyfriend and saw the intense blush. She suddenly realized that he must be able to see at least part way up her shirt. Although she blushed furiously herself she was surprised that not only did that not bother her she actually enjoyed the idea of Naruto looking at her like that. So although she put her hand over the edge of her shirt it wasn't done as fast as it might have been otherwise.

"What was that Naruto?" She asked.

"Well…umm…Could I see the scar?" He asked in a final rapid burst of words.

"Oh. Of course Naruto." Part of her was disappointed that he didn't ask to see more but she knew there would be plenty of time for that kind of stuff later. She slowly lowered herself bending her knees slightly and lifted her shirt slightly to expose her lower rib cage. She did keep her shirt tightly against her body though, she figured she had a whole inch of a 'safety margin' before this would cross the line sexually, well maybe a half inch. She smiled softly it was nice to think of without worrying, after all in every way that she thought really mattered he belonged to her now, as she belonged to him. Naruto cautiously reached up and touched a small spot that had a few flecks of scar tissue.

"Is this it?"

"Yes, careful though that tickles a bit."

"It doesn't look like much of a scar though."

"Tsunade said it had healed extremely well."

"What about your back?"

"Supposedly there's even less scar tissue back there."

"Can I see that too?"

"Yes silly." She giggled again as she turned around and lifted the back of her shirt for him."

Naruto blushed furiously and thought he was going to fade out again as he spotted the lower edge of the back of her bra. It was a soft lilac or lavender lace that perfectly matched her eyes when they weren't the complete white like the times she was using her Byakugan. Burying those thoughts before they could really start he reached out again and softly circled a small spot on her back with his index finger that he thought had a fleck of scar tissue.

"Is this it?" He asked.

Hinata giggled a little more. "Yes and stop that, it tickles."

Naruto was seized by a sudden impulse. He put his hands on her hips and while pulling her back slightly he craned his neck a bit and reached out with his lips to softly kiss the single speck of scar tissue. Hinata squealed and jumped up out of his grasp spinning around to face him. Her cheeks flashed crimson.

"Hey! That really tickled!" She said but with a large soft smile as the color of her blush faded to a soft red.

"Well I figured it's a boo-boo that I could kiss and make it all better." He grinned wildly as their eyes locked. "If you want, I could stop kissing you."

"Don't you dare even think that! Naruto-chan." She smiled knowing he was simply teasing her and she could tease him back.

"Naruto-chan? Aren't I a little old for that?" Naruto was somewhat stunned.

"Well, I guess so." Hinata smiled with a slightly evil look. "Maybe you should just think of yourself as my little Naruto-chan."

"Hinata-chan!"

"See, its o.k. for you to use it."

"But you're a girl!"

"So you finally noticed after all these years."

"Well, I guess I really am a little on the dense side." He muttered while his cheeks colored slightly.

"How about I just call you Na-chan? Maybe Naru-chan?" Hinatas grin grew into a full smile."

"Well…um, that's certainly a bit better but isn't it a little… intimate? Naruto began to blush brighter.

"Do you see anyone else here?" Hinatas own smile grew as her voice took on a husky sultry edge that he had never imagined could come from shy little Hinata but that didn't stop it from sending chills throughout his body.

"You know, I vaguely remember that you were a shy girl who had a lot of trouble talking." He finally said after staring at her for what seemed to be hours.

"Naruto." Hinata suddenly became serious as she reached down and took Narutos hand in her own. "I think that was only because I was afraid that if I said something wrong you wouldn't like me. Now that I know that's nothing to worry about, I'm not afraid of that anymore. Even my stutter is gone. You know I think it'd be a good idea for you to get up off the floor."

"I don't know about that. I'm not sure if my legs work yet. Maybe you should come down here." He tugged slightly on her hand but she resisted.

"I don't think so, I'm sure you can stand, I bet I could make it worth your while." She softened her smile and stared intently yet somehow softly into his eyes.

Naruto scrambled up. "Hey look at that you were right."

"Of course I was silly."

"Hey! Wait a second. How did you get to be the one in control here?"

Hinata smiled slyly and pulled him into a fierce hug. She wasn't sure if she should continue teasing him or kiss him again. Before she could decide his stomach growled rather noisily.

"Looks like I'm not in complete control after all." She laughed.

"I guess we should check the kitchen." He said.

A short walk later found them in the small kitchen. Naruto thought it was huge while Hinata thought it was 'cute'. Separating to rifle through the cabinets, Naruto quickly found a nice stockpile of instant ramen.

"Hey, it looks like someone knew we were going to be staying here." He said with one of his big smiles.

"Tsunade-sama is very good." Hinata looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at the stockpile of ramen. "Don't even think that you're only eating ramen."

Narutos eyes grew wide in shock for a brief moment until he remembered that Hinata was a very good cook. "Well as long as you're doing the cooking."

Hinata grabbed a small pot, filled it with water and set it up on the stove to quickly boil. "I don't think having a cup will hurt your appetite and it will tide you over until I whip up a quick meal." She said with a smile.

A half hour later they were back on the couch. Naruto had finished both his single cup of ramen along with a rather large amount of food that Hinata managed to cook up surprisingly quickly. It had all been simple fare, mostly rice and some noodles along with a bit of chicken, she knew in this case volume was probably the most important factor. If he was starving after eight bowls of ramen a mere four hours or so earlier, she figured it didn't really matter what she cooked as long as it was hot and plentiful. Sitting on the couch together in a slight daze proved that she had been right. A wave of exhaustion passed over both of them and before either one of them realized what had happened they were both lying on the couch together fast asleep. Naruto was up against the back of the couch with one arm under his head and the other wrapped around Hinata holding her hand.

About five minutes later the door opened to reveal Tsunade, Kurenai and Shikamaru who was carrying a suitcase.

"Isn't that cute." Tsunade said softly as she spotted Naruto and Hinata fast asleep cuddled up on the couch.

"Should we wake them up?" Kurenai asked also in a quiet voice.

"I think we can leave them like that. Shikamaru get a blanket and pillow from one of the rooms please." Tsunade said as she walked over to the couch.

"They didn't even take off their shoes." Tsunade rolled her eyes as she gently took off first Hinatas and then Narutos shoes.

Neither of them so much as stirred at this. Tsunade seeing Shikamaru return took the pillow and stuffed it under Narutos head. He mumbled something incomprehensible as he shifted slightly and pulled the pillow further under his head without waking up. His slight shifting though caused Hinata to slowly open her eyes. She looked around a bit and almost closed them before she realized who was standing in front of her. Her eyes snapped open so widely that Tsunade worried they might actually fall out of the poor girls head. Hinata inhaled a sharp gasp of air and her whole face burned with a nearly glow in the dark crimson. Before the young girl could jump up though Tsunade firmly grasped her shoulder.

"Shh, you'll wake up Naruto, just relax, everything is fine. Remember, Kurenai-sensei will be in the next room." Tsunade said very softly.

Hinatas eyes darted from Tsunade to Kurenai to Shikamaru before she tightly closed them and slowly reopened one of them. Seeing that the three were still there she sighed and opened her other eye. Tsunade took the blanket from the grinning Shikamaru and draped it over the two of them. Without another word Tsunade and Shikamaru left and then Kurenai went off into one of the bedrooms after a smile and a wave. Hinata lay there for several minutes still unsure whether or not she had imagined the whole thing. She smiled as she shifted slightly pulling one of her arms out from under Narutos and laying it back down on top of his arm. Reaching over with that hand she completely enclosed his hand that she had been holding with her other hand with both of her hands. With a soft sigh her smile deepened and a few minutes later she was fast asleep.


	10. Chapter 10 suite night

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

This one was a bit rushed but I wanted to put it up before heading out of town for a few days. I apologize for any glaring errors. Next update will probably be sometime between next Monday and Wednesday if all goes well.

Ch 10.

Naruto woke up a few hours later to a pins and needles sensation in his left arm. He was pretty groggy and forgot where he was for a moment. As he opened his eyes the first thing he noticed was a mass of black hair that had a bluish sheen to it that really stood out in the dim light. His heart skipped a beat as he realized he had been sleeping with Hinata on the couch. The nervousness didn't last long as the smell of her mixed with her lilac perfume invaded his consciousness and immediately calmed him. Still he couldn't stay like this. With the utmost care he slowly extracted his hand from both of hers. He then carefully lifted his arm that she was using as pillow and pushed the pillow he had been using into the space his arm, he then slowly pulled his arm out leaving her resting on the pillow. Using the skills he acquired climbing trees and walking on water he 'stood' on the arm of the couch shuffling around their jackets and slowly walked around the arm until he was able to step onto the floor and walk normally.

He glanced at Hinata who seemed a bit agitated but was still asleep. He started shaking his arm and running it through a few stretching routines. Looking back across the common area there were actually two couches and four chairs in the center of the common area with a decent sized coffee table in the middle. Looking around some more and he noticed there were several doors off of the common area. Two near the front door were across from the fountain. That was something he would remember to the end of his days he knew as he smiled. He slowly and quietly walked over and opened the first door and found a decent sized closet Something seemed odd and he had felt uneasy as he walked towards that first door but it faded slightly as he took a step closer to Hinata. The link! He had almost forgotten about it. He walked back to the couch gathered up the two jackets and hung them properly in the closet. Rubbing his eyes he checked the next door and was stunned to see a nice sized hot tub. He was no longer absolutely sure of Tsunades motives but he certainly wasn't going to complain. Looking back over the major part of the common area he counted four more doors, two on each side and then noticed a fifth across from the kitchen area next to the eating area. He hadn't noticed earlier but the table was pretty big and had eight chairs, that area was really just an extension of the common area.

The door closest to the fountain was open so he decided to check that first. As he quietly peeked in he was surprised to see Kurenai sensei fast asleep in the first of two large beds. Carefully he backed out afraid that he would wake her up. He should have known better. Even though he didn't see them due to a simple genjutsu Kurenai had invoked, her eyes were open and she was watching him intently. He checked the room next to Kurenai's and found another bedroom with two large beds and its own set of doors. Checking those two doors despite the growing feeling of unease he discovered a bathroom and a closet. Walking across he checked the other two and they were basically the same. The only difference he could see was that the rooms on Kurenai's side of the suite had the bathrooms and closets further away from each other. Kurenai's bathroom and closet were actually up against the fountain and the other room on that side the bathroom and closet were up against the kitchen. The rooms on the other side though had what had to be the bathrooms and closets between the two rooms, Naruto wasn't about to go and check just to be sure since he worried that the uneasiness he felt would also be felt by Hinata and he didn't want to wake her. Looking through the last door, which was luckily open, from the coffee table area he saw what looked like a meeting room with the edge of what looked like a large table and he spotted some chairs.

He went back to the room between Kurenai's and the kitchen. Going up to the first bed he pulled back the covers. He then headed back to Hinata and very carefully hooked one arm under her knees and the other behind her neck across her shoulders and slowly picked her up. Hinatas free arm dangled for a moment before she murmured something he didn't understand and she actually reached up to grab his shoulder without waking up. Naruto carefully walked her to the bedroom where he had pulled the covers back and carefully put her down on the bed and slowly pulled the covers back over her. He quietly left the room and headed to one of the empty ones on the other side of the common area.

Every step he took away from her made him more and more apprehensive as he opened the door on the other side of the common area he actually felt an odd sort of tug back to Hinata. He suddenly froze as he heard her shuffling around and he realized she must be feeling this tugging as well.

"Damn!" He cursed quietly but still intently.

He gauged the distance of all the beds in relation to each other in all the rooms. Cursing under his breath again he realized there was only one solution to his problem if he was going to get any decent sleep in a bed instead of staying on the couch. With a nervous gulp he headed back into Kurenai's room using every bit of stealth at his command. Sneaking past the apparently sleeping Kurenai he pulled the covers back on the second bed next to the one he thought Hinatas sensei was sleeping in. Again drawing on every ounce of stealth in his being he snuck back out and headed back to the room where he left Hinata. Carefully pulling back the covers again he picked her up again and softly brought her into the room with Kurenai and carefully put her in the second bed and pulled the covers over her again. He looked down at his girlfriend sleeping and tenderly brushed her hair away from her eyes. This time he leaned over and softly kissed her on her forehead before he turned and snuck back out to the common area.

Breathing a great but soft sigh of relief he finally relaxed slightly, until his stomach growled softly. He eyed the kitchen and figured that even though he was sure he'd seen a few boxes of trail mix bars in one cabinet there was no way his link with Hinata would allow him to get them without disturbing her. Looking around he noticed their holsters and belt kits on the coffee table. He had absolutely no memory of either of them taking their gear off but he was happy to see them. He knew he didn't carry anything in his that would solve his current problem so he checked Hinatas and smiled when he saw a few more ration bars in her kit. He had always kept extra kunai in his kit but after this evening he was going to reconsider that.

He quickly wolfed down two of the ration bars leaving one in her kit. He suddenly yawned and realized that he was still really beat and it had to be something like 3 or 4 in the morning. Quietly he entered the bedroom closer to the kitchen and crawled into the bed he had tried to leave Hinata in earlier. He smiled as his head hit the pillow because there was the faintest scent of lilacs on the pillow. Before he knew it he was fast asleep.

Kurenai silently got up and looked in on Naruto with a smile on her face.

"Good boy, Naruto." She softly whispered. _'Although boy doesn't really apply to him anymore.'_ She thought.

She heard a soft rustling from her room and quickly cast another genjutsu so she seemingly melted into the wall. Hinata stumbled in, looking distraught and with her eyes only half open.

"Naruto-kun?" The young woman whispered as she walked up to the sleeping blond ninja.

He didn't visibly really react it seemed but if she had been more awake she would have noticed that he smiled a little more from the sound of her voice. She leaned down and softly touched his shoulder.

"N-Naruto." Her quiet voice had a slight quiver to it. That slight waver in her voice shocked him awake.

"Hinata?"

"Why did you leave me alone?" Hinata asked as a small tear welled up in her eye.

Naruto bolted upright, his eyes wide in panic at the sight of the half tear.

"I'm sorry!" He whispered intently as he reached out and took her hand. "I thought it was the right thing to do, you know. I didn't mean or want to leave you alone. Besides Kurenai sensei was asleep in the other bed, so you weren't really alone."

"She was? I didn't notice. I only knew you were gone." Hinata hesitated for a moment before asking. "Can I stay with you please?"

"Oh!" Narutos eyes grew wide in shock and a small bit of fear. As he looked at her standing there in the semi-darkness on the verge of tears his heart melted and he gave her the only answer he could. "Of course you can. You can do whatever you want."

"Thank you Naruto-kun." She said as she climbed into the bed with him.

"Besides I thought we already established that you're the one in control here."

"Of course, silly." She gave him a quick little kiss that barely brushed his lips before rolling over and putting her back against his chest.

"Well as long as we keep our clothes on we'll be fine…right? I wouldn't want Tsunade-sama to end our relationship by killing me." Naruto said just before he was overcome by a yawn as he wrapped his arm around her.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about." Hinata finished as she almost instantly fell back into a deep sleep with a soft smile and one final word silently going through her head _'Yet.'_

Naruto smiled as he lifted his arm to pull the covers over the two of them and put his arm back over her to take her hand. This time having a bit more space and each having their own pillow he knew he didn't have to worry about his arm 'falling asleep' again. For a few moments though he lay there wide eyed in shock as the realization settled in that he was in bed with Hinata. It didn't take long though before the faint smell of her body mixed with her lilac perfume completely relaxed him and he was also fast asleep.

Kurenai dropped her genjutsu, shook her head with a smile and silently left the room. She knew Hinatas father would be extremely upset over this but she also knew there was nothing to worry about. Although the thought of telling him herself crossed her mind she decided she couldn't do that to Hinata. It certainly would have been entertaining though.

Several hours later Kurenai walked in to wake them both up. She chuckled at the bright red faces of the two teenagers and simply told them to join her out in the kitchen for breakfast as she walked out of the room. Naruto and Hinata sat there stunned for a few moments before getting out of bed, sneaking a quick kiss and heading out to the common area. While Hinata and Kurenai went about making a decent breakfast Naruto polished off an entire box of trail mix bars. They weren't as 'complete' as the ration bars he had earlier but they were a damn sight tastier. Naruto was intrigued by the two women cooking. He was what he considered a 'survival cook', basically he could boil water. That usually meant instant ramen in a cup but he would occasionally cook up a batch of rice for himself as well. On extremely rare occasions he would go as far to attempt a nori wrapped rice ball but that always turned into a pile of rice on top of a mangled sheet of nori.

Breakfast was looking to be quite filling, possibly even for the ravenous blond ninja. He was actually slowing down his voracious guzzling of food during his third set of helpings, not counting the trail mix bars of course. After seeing how he had been eating since leaving the hospital Hinata had prepared enough food for Naruto alone that would have satisfied at least a half dozen people. Kurenai originally started to protest but Hinata told her to simply trust her. A short time later as Naruto began work on his forth complete meal Kurenai silently admitted to herself that Hinata had been right.

There was a short knock on the door. Hinata and Naruto both got up to go together but Kurenai stopped them and said.

"Naruto I'd like you to try answer the door yourself. I'd like to see the two of you start stretching the limit of this link."

"O.K." Naruto mumbled as Hinata simply nodded

He got about half way to the door when he felt the tugging back towards Hinata. Stopping for a moment to look back he could see that Hinata was visibly uncomfortable but otherwise o.k.

"Go ahead Naruto, it's like stretching I would imagine. Just keep pushing and lets see how far you can get.

Much to his surprise he actually made it to the door. Opening it he was surprised to see both Hanabi and Neji, each holding two travel bags.

"I think you guys may have overdone things a bit, she's not moving in permanently you know." Kurenai said as the two entered.

"Father figured it was best to send too much than to send too little." Hanabi answered.

"Fine then just put everything in the first room on the right there, please excuse the mess we haven't had a chance to clean up yet."

Naruto closed the door and was about to head back to the table when the door knocked again. He was still feeling ridiculously uneasy but he turned and answered the door anyway to find Kakashi sensei and Shikamaru standing there with two of Narutos travel bags.

"Kakashi sensei? Shikamaru? I can't believe both of you are up this early!"

"Well if you weren't such a headache I wouldn't be." Grumbled Shikamaru.

"I'm always up earlier than this Naruto, I just changed my plans a little for you." Kakashi said, obviously grinning behind his mask.

As Naruto took the two bags from his teacher and friend Hanabi and Neji came out of the bedroom Kurenai was using.

"If any of you haven't had breakfast yet we still have plenty left and can easily make more." Kurenai said to the crowd.

Kakashi and Shikamaru elected to stay while the Hyugas decided to leave. Although Naruto was completely oblivious to it, Kurenai smiled to herself as she watched Neji closely watching Naruto as he deposited his own stuff in the second room. Kurenai was certain that word would get back to Hiashi that Hinata was sharing a room with her sensei while Naruto was in the next room over. As much as she would have enjoyed tormenting Hiashi she cared too much for Hinata to let anyone know about the real sleeping arrangements, other than Tsunade anyway.

Naruto finished off his fifth helping, although it was more of a half helping as the additionally food was split between Kakashi and Shikamaru. Hinata and Kurenai each ate a small amount themselves. Kakashi and Shikamaru each said thank you to the ladies and left. Kurenai told Naruto to clean up the breakfast dishes and the ones left from last night. He was about to summon up a few clones to help him out when Kurenai stopped him.

"Tsunade doesn't want you to be doing anything that uses chakra until she has had a chance to look you over." She told him to his dismay before she looked to Hinata. "I'm going to take a shower and I don't want you helping him either."

"Yes Kurnai sensei." Hinata looked down actually saddened by Kurenais command.

"Don't worry about it Hinata. If this is all I've got to do to get a good meal I definitely have got the better end of the bargain, you're a really good cook." He smiled greatly as he started gathering the dishes into the sink.

"Kurenai sensei, is there going to be a problem with Naruto doing the dishes while you are in the shower?"

"Not with these suites Hinata, we could run all four showers, the sink and fill the hot tub and not have a problem."

"Hot tub?" Hinata squeaked out as Kurenai disappeared. Much to her dismay though Naruto heard her.

"It's near the front door Hinata-chan, second door across from the fountain. You should check it out its huge." Naruto called out over his shoulder as he ran a large amount of soap and water into the sink creating a huge pile of bubbles.

Keeping her back to him to hide her red face Hinata slowly walked to the hot tub door. Each step she took made her feel more and more uneasy but it also seemed to be easier to tolerate. She was surprised, as Naruto said it was huge. She figured it could easily hold eight if not a dozen people. She wasn't sure if she was ready to deal with something like this in any way involving Naruto just yet though. With a great sigh she left the hot tub room and forcibly calmed herself as she headed back to the kitchen, getting closer to Naruto through their link certainly helped.

Naruto seemed to be more intent on making more and more bubbles than actually cleaning anything it almost seemed. He was certainly scrubbing furiously at the pots and pans and while the dishes were certainly getting cleaned Hinata didn't think she'd ever seen so many bubbles before. She smiled impishly as she jumped up to sit on the counter across from the sink.

"Do you think you have enough bubbles there Naruto-chan?"

Naruto froze for a second before slowly turning around with a large eyed, hurt puppy dog expression. Sticking his lower lip out as he tilted his head down so he seemed to be looking up at her, he said.

"I thought you weren't going to use that any more Hinata-chan." Trying desperately hard not to smile he made his eye brows quiver just a bit.

Hinata felt as though her heart was melting at the sight of Naruto pouting. Jumping off the counter she nearly flew the three feet to him to grab him into a great hug.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings!"

"I think I'm going to need a kiss for that one." Naruto smiled.

Hinata didn't notice there was the slightest touch of mischief to his grin. As she pulled him down to her lips and began to seriously kiss him he almost completely forgot what he intended to do but his inner prankster wouldn't let go. As he brought his arms from behind his back Hinata never saw that both of his hands were full of soap bubbles. He softly deposited them on top of her head and proceeded to lower his arms to encircle her into a hug of his own. For a moment he completely forgot about the bubbles and lost himself in her kiss. Unfortunately it didn't last long before a small stream of bubbles slowly flowed down her hair and slid over to her cheek. Hinatas eyes sprung open as she felt the warm water and soap. She struggled a bit since Naruto had pinned her arms within his own but he was too distracted to remember he was supposed to keep her arms trapped. Reaching up she felt the large amount of bubbles on her head and she pulled back ending their kiss.

"Why you!" She said ominously. She suddenly pushed him away so he was back up against the sink. Backing up herself a bit she suddenly jumped forward and actually jumped on top of him grabbing his hips with her knees and wrapping her arms around his neck. Naruto was stunned into complete passiveness as once again she locked her lips onto his and this time she drove his lips apart forcefully with her tongue before she suddenly switched to softly running her tongue along his. She grabbed the edge of the sink and pulled while pressing him down with her kiss. Letting go with one hand she quietly began to pile more and more of the suds onto his head. His blond hair was completely covered and suds were beginning to run down his back before he began to realize what was happening. As his eyes popped open she took a final handful and deposited it on his chin running her suds filled hand down his throat and to his chest before she jumped down and started laughing loudly.

"I can't believe that you're as bad as I am!" Naruto realized that he must have much more bubbles than Hinata. "Forget that I think you're worse than I am! I think you're going to get a lot more bubbles now!"

Naruto grabbed her waist and picked her up and started to turn, fully intending to deposit her completely into the sink. Hinata actually squealed and started giggling because at that very moment as she went to grab him, she discovered that in some spots Naruto was extremely ticklish. Naruto had to let go with one of his hands in an attempt to grab the edge of the sink so he wouldn't fall down as Hinatas tickling drove him to laugh hysterically. Unfortunately he grabbed a pot that he had already cleaned but hadn't finished rinsing the soapy water out of. With a sudden crash he lost his footing falling to the floor while pulling the half full pot of warm soapy water on top of them both. Naruto wound up flat on his back with Hinata sitting on his stomach while one of her hands was on his chest. Both of them were completely soaked and bubbles were spreading out across the floor.

"Hinata! When I told you not to help him I didn't mean you should get creative about it and start washing him instead of the dishes." Kurenai said rather loudly as she was suddenly standing over them with her hair in a towel.

The two teenagers began to blush as they realized just how bad their situation must have looked.

"Hinata! You're wearing a white shirt! Get off of him and go get cleaned up, NOW!" Kurenai didn't quite yell (except for that last word) at the young woman but it was close.

Naruto hadn't noticed before but once Kurenai mentioned the white shirt he couldn't help but to look down from Hinatas eyes. Not only was Hinatas shirt completely translucent but the lavender lace of her bra that he had caught a glimpse of the night before was only used for the back support and straps, the cup material itself was extremely sheer. Although the water had turned the material of her bra to a somewhat darker almost blue color, the sheer material was also very translucent. Naruto could easily see that Hinatas nipples were very erect and the darker flesh around them was impossible to miss. They both felt their faces burn with embarrassment. Hinata gave a high pitched squeak, leaped off of Naruto and vanished into Kurenais room, slamming the door shut as she flew past it.

Naruto was so completely stunned that his brain had basically shut off and he just lay on the floor blinking with his mouth slightly open.

"Naruto get up." Kurenai said as he lay there. When he didn't move she continued. "Great, just great."

Kurenai picked up the pot and stepped over Naruto quickly rinsed the soapy water out of it and filled it with cold water. She decided to give him one more chance.

"Naruto, come on, get up now or you're going to regret it."

Naruto was still in shock and simply continued to blink. Kurenai shrugged and dumped the pot of cold water on top of him. Naruto started sputtering as he sat up, still blinking though.

"Go on, Naruto got get showered and changed we've got to see Tsunade.

About twenty minutes later the three of them left the guest facility and headed off to the Hokage tower. Kurenai quietly smiled as they left and walked to the Hokages office. Naruto and Hinata were also very quiet as they stole small smiles from each other as they walked the streets hand in hand.


	11. Chapter 11 pleasant morning

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

Sorry about the delay, I had hoped to put this up sooner but this has been the hardest chapter to write yet. Slightly more info on upcoming stuff in my profile.

Ch. 11

Naruto, Hinata and Kurenai arrived at the Hokages office in short order. Kurenai had Naruto and Hinata wait outside while she went in to talk to Tsunade.

"Great, just great." Naruto muttered.

"What's wrong Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"I bet Kurenai sensei is giving granny Tsunade a full report about us."

"Well Tsunade-sama already knew that we fell asleep together on the couch."

"What!" Narutos eyes grew wide as his mouth fell open.

"She was with Kurenai sensei when she arrived last night. Oh and Shikamaru was there as well."

"Shikamaru too! Great as if it wasn't bad before, now its just a matter of time before everyone knows."

"Would that really be a bad thing." Hinata said as she looked down sadly.

Sensing something was wrong he looked over to see the sadness in her face.

"Hinata I would like nothing better than to let everyone know that we are a couple now. Its just that if word starts spreading around that we're sleeping together in any way it's only a matter of time before your father kills me." Naruto said as he tightened his grip on her hand.

"NARUTO! Hinata, get in here!" Naruto winced as the booming voice of Tsunade reverberated through the closed door. It was quite obvious she had stressed his name a lot more than Hinatas with her yelling.

"Well it looks like I'm not going to have to worry about your father now." Naruto stood up, followed by Hinata, who he took in a big hug, gave her a soft kiss on her lips before continuing. "I really do love you Hinata."

This time it was Hinata who was stunned into speechlessness. She stood there blinking, not reacting as Naruto pulled her into the Hokages office.

"So just what do you have to say for yourself Naruto?" Tsunade immediately demanded.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked using every last bit of apparent innocence he could muster.

Tsunade paused as she studied the still blinking Hinata.

"Damn it Naruto, what have you done to this poor girl now?"

"I didn't do anything!" Naruto claimed forcefully before he looked over at his girlfriend. "Hinata? Hinata are you o.k.? Hinata?"

Tsunade got up from her desk and walked around to Hinata. Leaning over to Stare into the young woman's eyes she rolled her own eyes before straightening up. She waved her hand in front of Hinatas face and snapped her fingers just in front of her nose.

"O.K. Naruto, seriously what did you do?" The Hokage asked with a sigh.

"I…" Naruto looked down sheepishly. "I just hugged her, gave her a small kiss and told her that I really loved her."

"Why in the world did you have to do that now?"

"Well with the way you were yelling I thought it might be the last time I would ever be able to say that to her."

Tsunades shoulders dropped and her irritation vanished. Again she rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to Hinata. Tsunade smirked as she reached past Hinatas cheek and under her hair to pinch the bottom of the girls earlobe.

"Ouch!" Hinata squeaked out as her eyes grew suddenly wide.

"Welcome back dear." Tsunade said before turning and heading back to her seat.

"Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked.

"Stay with us now Hinata." Tsunade nodded to Kurenai. "I've been informed of everything that went on after I left last night. I can't say I'm overly pleased with the final sleeping arrangements the two of you came up with but all things considered it could have been worse. I can't even be really upset with whatever it was that the two of you were doing with the bubbles."

Tsunade paused for a moment as the two young ninja were furiously blushing.

"The two of you are something of a problem. Normally I'd simply give the two of you a few simple guidelines and let things fall where they may. With Hinata being the heir to one of Konohas most prestigious clans and Naruto being, well being Naruto things are a bit more complicated. Additionally the two of you have got the most sickenly sweet innocence between the two of you its actually somewhat hilarious. How Naruto managed to pull that off between his own perverted jutsus and being with Jiraiya for the past few years is a mystery that is far beyond my ability to comprehend. I take it that it is safe to assume that this is the first romantic relationship either of you have really been in, isn't it?"

"Yes." Both said softly together.

"Great." Tsunade sighed. "To be honest the two of you are in for some difficult challenges ahead of you with this. Hmm, lets just say that certain aspects of your relationship are far more advanced than they should be while others aspects of you both are actually somewhat stunted in their growth, romantically speaking anyway. Normally people your age should have been in at least one if not two relationships by now. Basically you both have a lot to learn about dealing with someone else like this. You're both a bit over your heads in how much you care for the other so I'm telling you both to take it easy and be careful. I'm sure that you'll figure it all out somehow so I'll just leave it with this. I don't care if the two of you are sleeping together. As long as that's all that you are doing. Remember that as long as you are my guests at the suite."

Tsunade smiled again as the two of them planted their eyes firmly on the floor and blushed furiously.

"Now Kurenai sensei has told me that she's already started having the two of you attempt to stretch the link between you both. I think it's safe to give it a more through looking at." Tsunade suddenly called out. "Sakura!"

Naruto became a bit agitated when he spotted the odd assortment of medical equipment, including a tray full of all sorts of surgical tools on the cart that Sakura wheeled in as she entered Tsunades office.

"First let's look at that arm of yours Naruto."

"I've been putting a new bandage on everyday after I shower."

"Still doesn't hurt for me to look it over. I've been a little concerned that your adventure over in Wind country may have affected this as well, I only gave it a cursory glance while you were in the hospital."

Tsunade unwrapped the lengthy bandage covering almost all of Narutos right arm. He had been wearing one everyday and since the itching had subsided he could almost forget it was there at times. Tsunade hummed slightly as she took his arm in her hands and looked over the reddened skin. The numerous cuts were still healing too slowly for her tastes but at least the recent battle and his latest stay at the hospital hadn't made anything worse. It didn't take long for her to be satisfied and wrap up his arm herself.

"Well it could be better but at least it doesn't seem to be any worse." Tsunade looked around and sighted her youndg aprentice. Suddenly she remembered her conversation with Sakura. "Sakura, you can head back to the hospital now I don't think you'll be needed for the rest of this."

"Of course Tsunade-sama." The pink hair kunoichi said quietly before leaving.

"Lets see about this link, Hinata I'd like you to keep watch on it with your Byakugan."

"Of course Tsunade-sama." Hinata said before calling out "Byakugan!"

"Generally most links similar to this can be severed with a bit of chakra from a medical specialist. After going over the scrolls Naruto commandeered I've got a feeling that this one isn't going to be a typical chakra link."

Tsunade gathered up her own chakra and felt for the thread. Sensing it after a brief search she concentrated a burst of chakra from her hand that should have been enough to disrupt and cut the thread. She felt a flare of energy and pulled back her hand with a small yelp as her fingers began to tingle.

"Tsuande-sama! Are you o.k.?" Hinata asked. "I saw the link flare."

"I'm fine, my hand is a little numb but I'm fine." Tsunade answered.

Tsunade became somewhat suspicious of this odd link. It shouldn't have flared like that. She pulled a chakra enhanced scalpel from the tray, focused her own chakra into the blade and probed the area with her medical jutsu until she found the chakra thread connecting Naruto and Hinata. Using her own chakra she grabbed hold of the thread.

"Brace yourselves you two, this may be a bit…well I don't actually know what's going to happen so just brace yourselves."

She brought the scalpel to bear on the thread fully intending to sever the link between the two young ninja with a brute force method. As soon as the chakra powered blade came into contact with the invisible thread there was a flash of bluish light that had the slightest tinge of red in it. Everyone gasped since the flash was visible to everyone in the room. They all heard a metallic 'tink' as the light quickly faded. Tsunade brought the scalpel up to her eyes to examine it and sighed in frustration.

"So much for that blade." Tsunade said.

She held up the scalpel so everyone could see that the front half of the blade was gone. The severed edge had a mirror finish along the sliver of cut area. Putting the ruined tool back on the tray she bent down and quickly located the other half of the cutting section of the scalpel on the floor. A quick glance to that showed it had the same mirror finish along the cut as the other piece had.

"Damn. It looks like we're not severing this link that way."

Now more than ever before Tsunade was worried about this odd link. It just left the 'puzzling' category and was now firmly embedded in the 'disturbing' category. It was bad enough that the scalpel was ruined. Granted that was unusual for something like this but there were plenty of examples of chakra cutting blades before, so at least there was something to start with. Although in this case the amount of power tied to that little thread was unsettling on its own. Tsunade didn't care to think about how it easily countered not only the chakra enhanced scalpel but that it did so while her own chakra was flowing through the blade. The worst thing though that actually made Tsunade outright nervous was that minute tinge of red. She shuddered to think that the damn fox's chakra may also be tied up in this.

"Shizune send a messenger out to get Shino Aburame. I think he could be useful here."

"Shino? Why Shino?" Naruto demanded.

"Shino's Kikaichu bugs can actually 'eat' chakra. Hopefully with a bit of luck, we'll come up with some sort of solution before he gets here. I'd like the two of you to each try to pull your chakra away from the link. Hinata keep watching the link."

They both began to try to draw their chakra away from each other. Hinata was having a slightly easier time since she could actually see the link. She murmured something to Naruto who nodded and shifted his attention on the link slightly. Tsunade raised her eyebrow at the quiet interchange between the two but stayed silent while they concentrated. It didn't take long before the both had a good solid grasp of the thread and began pulling chakra from it. The thread got thinner and thinner while both Naruto and Hinata felt as though the other was getting further and further away. Hinata suddenly gasped and released her grasp of the chakra thread. That caused some of her own chakra to suddenly flow through the thread into Naruto for a brief moment before he stopped pulling on it himself.

"Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed as a look of concern crossed his face. "I felt you stop pulling and then some of your chakra come through the link. Are you alright?"

"I think so." Hinata looked worried as she glance to Tsunade. "I think Naruto and I pulled nearly all of our chakra away from the link. I, I thought it would have vanished then but it turned pink and I couldn't hold my chakra away from the link."

"Well with any normal chakra link, once the chakra is pulled away the link will collapse. With the two of you it seems that not only is this link two directional with each of you having your own chakra interwoven into it but it seems that the foxes chakra is tied to this link as well."

"The fox's chakra! That can't be good for her!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Relax, you two have already been tied together like this for more than a week. I think that as long as the fox's chakra goes through you and your chakra first it won't be a problem. Keep in mind though that for most people the chakra of the nine tailed fox would likely act as a poison, so don't go trying to push too much chakra through that link to Hinata. If the link is actually permanent I would think that Hinata would develop her own immunity to the fox chakra much like you have Naruto."

"Permanent?" Narutos eyes grew wide as he looked to Hinata. "Your dad really is going to kill me isn't he?"

"Naruto-kun you worry too much. I am sure that everything will work out." Hinata answered with a reassuring smile.

They spent roughly a half hour under the sharp eye of Tsunade trying to manipulate the chakra link between the two of them. They stopped as someone knocked on the door. Shizune opened the door to reveal Shino.

"You needed me Hokage-sama?" The young man asked softly.

"Ah, yes Shino, we've got a bit of a problem here that you might be able to help with your kikai bugs." Tsunade said.

"As you wish." He replied as he nodded to Hinata and Naruto.

"Shino-kun. It is good to see you." Hinata said as she bowed slightly.

"It is good to see you also, especially outside of the hospital." He eyed her standing next to Naruto. "I take it you two are definitely a 'couple' now?"

"Yes." Hinata answered with a smile and a soft blush.

"That is good." Shino answered with an unseen smile.

"Man Shino, why do you have to hide so much, I'm still not sure that it's you in there." Naruto said with a grin.

Shino's sigh was very audible. "The kikai are more comfortable being out of direct sunlight."

"I've seen them plenty of times in the day time though and you've had them forever but you didn't used to cover up that much." Naruto stated.

"Yes, they can tolerate bright light, they just prefer to stay in the shadows. I cover up more now because I host more kikai now."

"Oh, I guess all of that makes sense." Naruto said.

"O.k. enough, we've got work to do." Tsunade spoke up. "Shino there's a chakra link between Naruto and Hinata. So far we've had no luck in breaking it. I'd like to see if your kikai bugs have any effect on it."

"Hmmm, if you haven't been able to break the link I don't know if the kikai will be of much help."

"Possibly not but it doesn't hurt to try. Especially since we've tried most other techniques and haven't had any luck.

"That is true."

"O.k. you two." Tsunade said to Naruto and Hinata. "Start pulling your chakra away from the link again. Hinata use your Byakugan again this time let Shino know when or if the thread turns pink. We'll see what the kikai can do to the thread then."

Naruto and Hinata began pulling their chakra from the thread again. This time when the thread turned pink Hinata turned to Shino and signaled. Shino nodded and a swarm of kikai formed and headed to the space between Naruto and Hinata. The bugs became agitated and seemed to hesitate. Shino raised an eyebrow but he encouraged the bugs to continue. The bugs began to feed on the pink chakra.

"They don't like this odd chakra." Shino muttered. "It is the Kyuubi isn't it?"

"How did you know that?" Naruto asked.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out."

"Worry about that later Naruto." Tsunade said. "Hinata what's happening to the link? Is it getting any weaker?"

"Actually no, if anything it seems to be turning redder."

"Damn I was afraid of that." Tsunade said. "Shino how are the kikai?"

"I should pull them back, there are limits to how much chakra they can eat. Usually it's never a concern with people, even a lot of people but this is different. Also I don't think the Kyuubi's chakra is good for them. Besides the sheer apparent volume of chakra this chakra seems 'off'." Shino stated.

"Well, I guess we should knock this off then. I'd like to do some further reading before we do anything else with the link." Tsunade paused and looked at the two linked ninja. "You two may have to talk to the Kyuubi again about this. I think we're going to continue this another time. Naruto, Hinata you can go now, go out and spend some time together. I'd like to check you again tomorrow Naruto, it seems your chakra levels are almost back to normal. With a bit of luck you'll be able to start training again in a few days. Shino I'd like you to stay a little while."

"Thank you! Tsunade-sama, later Shino." Naruto said with a big grin and a wave as he began to pull Hinata towards the door.

Hinata was barely able to say a quick good bye before Naruto pulled her out of the Hokages office.

---ooo---

Naruto and Hinata were finally alone together. Well as alone as two people could be as they walked through the busy streets of Konoha holding hands. Enjoying each others company, neither of them noticed that they had acquired a quiet follower. Although they both had something of a dreamy look on their faces, Naruto was carefully eyeing many of the different shops they were passing. He felt that they must have walked through most of the village before he finally spotted the type of shop he was looking for.

"Come on, Hinata, this way." He said as he pulled her towards the store.

Hinata looked slightly confused as Naruto tugged her along before she let out a small gasp as he pulled her into a jewelry shop.

"Naruto-kun, what are you doing?" She asked.

"I want to buy you something."

"Naruto you really don't have to." Hinata said softly as her face colored slightly.

"Actually I think I do." He smiled at her.

"N, no you don't." The slightest hint of her old stutter crept back into her voice.

"Please Hinata, I really want to."

The shop owner had instantly appeared at the sound of a small bell when the door first opened. He started to glare at Naruto but his look of irritation quickly shifted to confusion as he noticed that the blonde young man was holding the hands of a young Hyuga girl. The shop owners confusion deepened as he listened to the quiet interplay between the two.

Naruto looked intently from display to display. He wasn't sure what he wanted to get for Hinata but he thought that once he saw something 'right' he would know. Hinata looked around slowly and her heart skipped a beat when she saw Naruto look over the display of engagement rings. The villages most clueless ninja didn't notice her reaction and actually didn't even know the significance of the rings he had quickly dismissed. Hinata though couldn't tear her eyes away from the collection of diamond rings. The shop owner smiled at the sight of the young girl looking at that particular display.

"Care to try one on?" The older man asked.

Hinatas eyes grew wide and once again her cheeks flared red.

"Oh! N..no I couldn't." She said softly as she looked to the floor.

Naruto though caught what the shop owner had said and quickly stepped back to Hinatas side.

"I don't know." The blonde ninja started as he looked to the red faced Hinata in puzzlement. "I don't think these are what I'm looking for."

"Doesn't hurt to try one on though." The shop owner said.

"That's true." Naruto looked thoughtfully at the collection as he rubbed the back of his head. "What do you think Hinata, they all kind of look the same to me."

"Uhhh…well, umm." Hinata just stood there, close to a complete breakdown.

Naruto looked at her completely confused before turning to the shop owner. "What do you think old man?"

The man smiled and reached into the case pulling out one of the simpler designs. It was a platinum band with a relatively small single diamond.

"Here see how this fits her, it should be close to the right size and the platinum will suit her better than gold would." He handed the ring to Naruto.

Naruto looked at the dazed Hinata completely baffled at her current state as he softly took her right hand.

"No, not that hand." The man said stopping Naruto.

"What? I don't understand."

The man sighed. "That kind of ring goes on a women's left hand on her ring finger."

"Ring finger?"

"You're kidding right?" The shop owner sighed again. "Put it on her finger next to her pinky finger."

"Oh, o.k. then." Naruto still had no idea what was going on but he took Hinatas left hand and slid the little ring onto the appropriate finger.

Hinata blinked and tried to force her eyes to focus, she felt that she had just missed something. She looked from the smiling shop owner to the grinning Naruto and began to realize there was a new weight on her hand. Looking down she saw the engagement ring on her finger while Naruto was still holding her hand.

"Well it does look good there. What do you think Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"Eep!" Hinata squeaked out as her brilliant crimson blush spread beyond her entire face, coloring her unseen ears and spreading down her throat to disappear into her shirt, spreading unseen all the way to her naval. Unable to take any more she fainted.

Hinatas collapse forced their quiet follower to burst into the shop.

"Naruto! What have you done to Hinata!" The thin blonde woman who had burst into the shop was suddenly shouting at him.

"Ino? I don't know, I just put that ring on her and she fainted."

"Ring? What ring?" The blonde demanded.

"She's only wearing one ring." Naruto was beginning to get irritated.

Ino looked at Hinatas hands as she knelt down.

"An engagement ring! You gave her an engagement ring!" Ino's eyes grew ridiculously wide as she stared at Naruto.

"Engagement ring? What do you mean?" Naruto demanded as a slight edge of fear entered his voice.

"**Idiot!** That's an engagement ring! You give one to a woman when you ask her to marry you!"

"But, but, but." Narutos own eyes grew wide, his mouth fell open and his legs gave out on him. He fell to the floor into a sort of sitting position as he leaned up against the counter.

"Ha, ha, ha,hahaha. Now that was the funniest thing I've ever seen between a couple." The shop owner continued laughing.

Ino looked from the unconscious Hinata to the completely dazed Naruto before glaring at the shop owner. With a sigh she carefully took the engagement ring off of Hinatas finger and handed it back to the still grinning shop owner.

"Somehow I just know this is your fault." Ino said still glaring at the shop owner.

Ino glanced at Naruto shook her head and carefully shook Hinata. The dark haired girl sort of woke up and Ino was able to get her to her feet. With a bit of a struggle Ino managed to get Hinata outside and sat her down on the steps in front of the shop. The shop owner walked around the counter and shook Naruto.

"Hey kid, come on, snap out of it."

"What?" Naruto slowly came to his senses.

"Listen kid I guess you're really not all that bad and I'm sorry for just now but it was really funny."

"Yeah for you maybe." Grumbled Naruto as he rubbed the back of his head.

"So how long have the two of you been dating?"

"Actually only a few days, I guess. It's kind of complicated." Naruto sighed.

"Hmm, come over here then. I think what you were really looking for was something along these lines." The older man said as he helped Naruto to his feet.

The shop owner guided Naruto to a display of necklaces that he hadn't gotten to before the engagement ring fiasco. All of them had heart shaped pendants or lockets. Narutos eyes caught sight of a silver necklace and pendant. The heart itself was simply two curved pieces of silver joined together to form the heart hanging from a simple but finely crafted silver chain. The two silver curves were slightly different sizes that gave the whole heart a slight curve.

"That one! It's perfect." Naruto exclaimed.

The shop owner smiled and carefully took the necklace off its display hook and put it in a small box. Naruto didn't even bother to haggle over the price he simply pulled out gama-chan, paid the full amount, put the thin box into his inner jacket pocket and turned to leave.

"Wait a second kid." The shop owner called him back.

The older man dug around under the counter a bit and pulled out an odd looking silver ring.

"Listen I'm really sorry about all of that. This is something relatively new from the far West. They're called 'claddagh rings'." The man smiled as Naruto eyed him suspiciously.

"This one isn't going to cause any trouble is it."

"It shouldn't. Here look, see the heart shaped design here." The man pointed out the engraved design of two hands holding a heart on the ring. Have her wear it on her right hand with the point of the heart pointed to her and it indicates that she has a boyfriend."

"O.k. how much is it." Naruto asked.

"They're actually pretty cheap but you can have that one on the house, consider it an apology for the trouble I caused the two of you." The man smiled at Naruto.

"Hey! Thanks!" Naruto waved as he walked out of the shop, careful not to bump into Ino and Hinata, who were still on the steps.

"So are you o.k. Hinata?" He asked softly.

"Yes, I'm fine." Hinata replied quietly as she reached up and took Narutos hand.

"I'm sorry about that. I had no idea." Naruto looked down at the ground. "I knew I was going to screw things up."

Hinata suddenly stood up and hugged him.

"Oh Naruto, that's not screwing up, you just didn't know."

"The shop owner gave me this for you, as an apology." Naruto handed her the claddagh ring as they broke away from their hug. "He said it's a clatta ring and if you wear it on your right hand with the heart pointed towards you it means that you have a boyfriend."

"Idiot, it's a claddagh ring and every girl knows how to wear one. They're becoming quite popular." Ino scolded Naruto.

"That's what I said!"

"Never mind." Ino rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, the old guy seemed to feel a little bad about the whole engagement ring thing, so he gave me that for you." Naruto said with a brief glare to Ino.

"Thank you Naruto." Hinata said with a soft smile as she put the ring on her right hand with the heart pointing towards her.

Ino looked at the position of the ring and quickly looked from Hinata to Naruto back to Hinata.

"So, just when did this happen?" The blonde kunoichi asked with a big grin.

"What?" Naruto asked

"A few days ago." Hinata said with a smile as she reached out and took Narutos hand to intertwine their fingers.

"Oh, that." Naruto said with a faint blush.

"We should celebrate!" Ino practically yelled.

"What?" Again Naruto was puzzled.

"We shouldn't make a big deal out of this Ino." Hinata said softly.

"You're kidding right? Naruto finally figured out that you liked him after all this time and we're not going to celebrate? I don't think so!"

Ino looked at her two friends as they both kind of mumbled and stared at the ground in obvious embarrassment. The energetic blonde began to realize that a big get together in their honor probably wasn't the best thing for the two of them.

"O.K. then maybe we won't do the whole party thing for you guys being a couple." Ino thought for a moment. "How 'bout we get everyone together at the all you can eat barbeque to celebrate the two of you finally being out of the hospital?"

"Well it's not ramen but that works for me." Naruto said with a grin.

"That would be nice Ino. It would be good to see everyone together." Hinata said.

"Actually I'm surprised that any all you can eat barbeque is still in business with Choji around." Naruto said with a chuckle.

"Well he's only allowed in once a month but I think they'll make an exception if we bring enough people." Ino chuckled.

"They haven't seen Naruto eat yet." Hinata said quietly getting a puzzled look from Ino and a sheepish smile from Naruto.

"O.K! Then it's settled. I'll contact everyone and we'll all meet at the barbeque up the block from my families flower shop at 7:00." Ino gave a wave and ran off.

"Think she could be in any more of a rush?" Naruto asked.

"I think it was sweet."

"I guess you're right." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head while he looked down the block that Ino had disappeared down a second ago.

"Of course I am silly." Hinata smiled as she squeezed his hand a little.

"We should be thinking about lunch." Naruto said looking around at the shops again.

Hinata rolled her eyes but smiled as they walked down the street. They were wandering somewhat aimlessly for a while when they ran into Kurenai sensei and Shikamaru.

"So barbeque tonight?" Shikamaru asked with a smile as they approached.

"Wow, that Ino can sure be fast." Naruto said.

"Kurenai sensei will you be joining us?" Hinata asked.

"I don't think so Hinata. I think this is something more for all of your friends then for you teachers."

Hinata noticed that Kurenai was fiddling with her wedding ring and a sadness lurked in her eyes. Letting go of Narutos hand she went up to her sensei and hugged her.

"You are more than welcome to join us any time Kurenai-sama." Hinata whispered.

"Thank you Hinata. I'll keep that in mind but I think this time it's really for all the people around your age." Kurenai whispered back before continuing in a normal voice with a large smile. "So did the two of you get your swim suits yet?"

"Swim suits?" Naruto asked while Hinatas eyes grew wide with fear.

"Yep." Kurenai's smile took on a distinct look of mischief. "Hokages orders, I'm to make sure that the two of you spend at least an hour each evening in the hot tub as long as we're staying at the guest suite. It's supposed to help your recovery."

This time Narutos eyes grew wide and once again he and Hinata looked at the ground intently as their cheeks colored.

"Man some people have all the luck." Shikamaru smirked.

"Shikamaru you can leave if you want. I'm sure that Naruto and Hinata will be more than willing to accompany me back to the suite. It'll probably be a little easier on the two of them if I help them out with their swimsuit shopping alone. Besides I'm sure Ino will appreciate your help contacting everyone."

"Of course Kurenai-sama." Shikamaru said, still smirking as he turned and walked down the street.

"Now don't you two even think about vanishing on me." Kurenai's mischievous smile returned. "You two will be spending that hour in the hot tub each night, with or without suits."

Both Naruto and Hinata looked at Kurenai in complete shock with their eyes wide. There was no way Kurenai could be serious they both thought.

"You…You're kidding, right?" Naruto said with an audible gulp.

"Nope, not at all. Tsunade-sama's orders. Right down to the no swimsuit part if you two decide to be difficult about getting suits. So you'd better follow me." Kurenai walked off.

"We'd better follow her. I don't think she's kidding." Naruto said as he grabbed Hinatas hand and hurried after Kurenai.

It didn't take long before they found themselves in one of Konohas many clothing stores. With Spring nearly over and Summer about to start there were plenty of swimsuits to choose from. Naruto had the easiest time finding a suit. He was overjoyed to almost immediately find a pair of blue swim shorts adorned with red and orange frogs. Both Kurenai and Hinata were a little surprised at his reaction to a suit they both thought was somewhat amusing. Kurenai found a rather conservative black and white one piece suit in the maternity section that had an added skirt. Hinata had the most difficulty of the three. She absolutely refused to even try on any of the bikinis that Kurenai teased her with and didn't seem all too eager to try even the most conservative suits she could find. In the end she submitted to some of Kurenai's bullying and tried on a one piece suit that was actually styled like a bikini. It had a section of mesh that connected the bottom and top sections of the suit, making it a one piece. There was an additional section of mesh that covered her cleavage almost to her throat. It was still quite revealing but better than any of the other suits. The suit material itself was made up of dark shades of iridescent blue. Once Hinata got over the embarrassment of letting Naruto see her in the suit, again due to Kurenai's bullying, she was secretly pleased at the stunned reaction the suit got from her boyfriend.

Getting back to the suite took a little longer than it should since Naruto was still somewhat dazed and Hinata had to carefully guide him through the streets. It didn't help that he was also carrying most of the shopping bags. As dazed as he was he refused to let Kurenai carry anything.

"Still interested in lunch Naruto?" Hinata asked as they entered the suite.

"Huh, wha… Oh yeah! Lunch! Of course I am!" Naruto snapped out of his dazed state at the mention of food.

"You know Hinata, today would be a nice day for a picnic. I'm sure you and I could make a quick meal for the two of you. I'll even take care of the dishes this time for you." Kurenai offered.

"Thank you Kurenai sensei." Hinata bowed.

"Kurenai-sama, are you sure?" Naruto asked.

"Yes Naruto, consider it a favor." Kurenai smiled.

Once again Naruto was captivated as he watched the two women make a meal. It didn't take long before Hinata and Kurenai had dug out a basket and packed it full of food. Naruto was more than happy to carry it. He and Hinata said a quick goodbye to Kurenai and headed off to one of the nearby parks.

It really was a beautiful day as Naruto spread out the blanket and Hinata began to set out the plates and food. As they sat down Naruto suddenly remembered the thin box he had in his jacket. Smiling he reached into the inside pocket and pulled it out.

"Hinata?"

"Hm, yes Naruto-kun?" She answered without actually looking up, concentrating on setting out the food.

"I almost forgot but this is for you." He held out the box.

Hinata finally looked up and softly blushed at the sight of the small box.

"Naruto, I told you that you did not need to get me anything."

"I know but I really wanted to. It's not much but it seemed right. I probably should have wrapped it but things kind of got out of hand today."

"It's o.k. Naruto, I understand." She said softly as she took the box.

Hinatas hands trembled slightly as she held the box. As she opened it up her eyes seemed to sparkle and she began to softly smile as she looked at the heart pendent.

"It's very beautiful Naruto." Hinata said as her eyes began to well up slightly.

"Here, please don't cry." Naruto leaned over and carefully took the necklace out of the box, opened the clasp, put it on Hinata and closed the clasp behind her neck.

"Now it's beautiful." He said with a smile.

Hinata leaned forward suddenly and took Naruto into a fierce hug as she buried her face into his shoulder.

"Thank you." She whispered to him.

Naruto had been slightly stunned at the intensity Hinata had pulled him into the hug with but at the sound of her voice he slowly wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug. Hinata pulled back slightly to look into his eyes. Before he knew what was happening she leaned forward again, only this time she tilted her head up and locked her lips onto his. Naruto felt as though it was getting noticeably warmer as she pressed her lips against his own. As they pulled apart he smiled.

'_Now this is a good day.'_ He thought to himself.


	12. Chapter 12 a very good day

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

Sorry about the delay, I had hoped to put a bit more in this chapter but it was getting a little lengthy as it was. Got two or three scenes left to go before I start into the Naruto vs. Hyuga assessment fight and get back to some action. Unfortunately I'm heading out of town over Memorial Day weekend and I'm going to be extremely busy this weekend, starting tomorrow, so it may be a while for my next update, sorry 'bout that.

Ch. 12

Several minutes passed as they both quietly ate their lunch, each with a soft smile on their faces

"Naruto-kun, why were you so excited about your new bathing suit?" Hinata said with a soft blush. She still wasn't comfortable with the implications of the swim suits.

"Well not only was it in my favorite colors, it had frogs on it. The orange frogs were especially appropriate." He answered.

"Orange frogs?"

"Well toads actually."

"I don't understand what's so special about toads?"

"Oh you didn't know? Toads are my summons creature."

"You can perform a summons jutsu? That's another jounin level skill." Hinatas surprise was evident.

"Yep, you know I seem to be collecting a lot of jounin level skills. I'm going to be the most powerful genin to ever walk the Earth if I don't make chuunin soon." Naruto laughed. "I've even summoned the chief toad a few times. He's a bit cranky sometimes but he's really cool."

"Could you show me?" She asked shyly.

"You want to see Gama Bunta!"

"The chief toad? That's the one the fourth Hokage had with him when he fought the nine tailed fox. No I think that would be a bit too much. I just, I just want to see you perform the summons jutsu."

"Well if that's the case." Naruto looked deep in thought for a moment. "Actually it's probably a good idea to introduce you to him anyway." The orange clad ninja mused.

"Introduce me?"

"Just wait." Naruto concentrated some of his chakra, bit his thumb, performed a series of seals and as he slammed his hand to the ground, he called out "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"

A wave of dizziness washed over him and he staggered slightly. There was a flash of smoke and Hinatas concern from noticing his stagger was momentarily forgotten as she was stunned to see a rather large, not quite 2 meters tall as it crouched, toad appear. It was a dark orange, almost red actually with blue markings. It was wearing a dark blue vest and black gloves. The toad was smoking an intricately carved pipe and held a large kunai that was nearly a meter long.

"Naruto! What's up? Pops said you got into a bit of a bind last week, everything o.k.?" The large toad spoke much to Hinatas amazement.

Naruto shook off the dizziness and kind of bounced back into his normal exuberant self. "Things are great, couldn't be much better in fact! I wanted to introduce you to my girlfriend. Gamakichi this is Hinata. Hinata, Gamakichi, he's actually one of my best friends."

"I am very pleased to meet you, Gamakichi-san." Hinata said as she stood up and bowed before the large toad. Her attention returned to Naruto and she stepped over to him to take his hand before asking. "Are you o.k?"

"Yeah, probably shouldn't have done that now that I think about it."

"Girlfriend eh? Very pleased to meet you as well Hinata-san. You know she's right, you're looking a little gray there Naruto." Gamakichi said with his odd amphibian smile.

"They just released us from the hospital the other day and I probably shouldn't be using any chakra, let alone enough to do a summons."

"Some things just don't change." The large toad said as he rolled his eyes before taking notice of Hinata holding Narutos hand. "Yet, some things do." Gamakichi's odd smile broadened slightly as he said that.

"Naruto neechan" Konohamaru called out as he walked up.

"Konohamaru! How are you?"

"Pretty good, what's with the frog?"

"This is my friend Gamakichi, he's actually a toad. Gamakichi, this is my friend Konohamaru, he's the closest I've got to a younger brother."

"Pleased to meet you Gamakichi-sama."

"Same here kiddo." The toad answered. "It's a pleasant change to meet some of Narutos friends instead of the funny old pervert.' Gamakichi said with a chuckle.

"How did you get to know him Naruto?" Konohamaru asked as he looked at the toad intensely.

"Toads are my summons creatures, much like Tsunade-sama summons slugs." Naruto answered, wishing that Konohamaru had walked up a minute or so sooner so he didn't have to repeat himself.

"Very cool. Umm, that psycho Sakura isn't around is she?" Konohamarus eyes darted around nervously.

"Nope, just us here."

"Excellent! Then I've got you now! Prepare yourself for defeat!"

Narutos eyes grew wide, he suddenly had a very bad feeling about this. Konohamaru generated a Kage Bunshin and they smiled.

"Konohamaru…" Naruto started to say but was cut off.

"Sexy No Jutsu! Girl on Girl, Naruto Demise Special Version!" Konohamaru called out.

There was a poof of smoke as Konohamaru and his clone transformed. Fear suddenly gripped Narutos heart as the smoke began to clear away. Standing before him were naked forms of both Sakura and Hinata in a close embrace. Naruto sat there completely stunned, eyes wide not even blinking. Gamakichi began to laugh outrageously while Hinatas eyes bulged in shock and her face turned completely red only this was a red of embarrassment mixed with anger.

"Konohamaru-san! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!" Hinata yelled as she leaped to her feet.

There was another poof of smoke and Konohamaru stood there with a smug self satisfied smile on his face as he looked at the slightly twitching form of his open mouthed friend. His gaze shifted to the now advancing Hinata. Looking at the expression on her face he suddenly realized that he may have made a rather glaring and critical error. Squeezing his eyes shut he as he dropped into a low crouch, he raised his arms to cover his face and head as he began to shake in fear.

"Please don't kill me!" He cried out as Hinata stood over him.

Hinata rolled her eyes, crouched down so she was eye to eye level with the young genin who slowly opened his eyes to see her pale hyuga eyes mere inches from his own. "Relax Konohamaru, as tempting as it may be I'm not going to kill you. I don't think I'm even going to hurt you…_**this time**_. It would be a very good idea for you to never do that ever again." Hinatas eyes became cold and hard as her gaze bored into Konohamaru and she smiled in such a way that Konohamaru began to tremble slightly as he thought his very soul was in danger.

Hinata stood up looked to Naruto and her eyes narrowed slightly. _'This will require a bit of delicacy.'_ She thought as she slowly walked to her shell shocked boyfriend.

"Well that's something you certainly don't see everyday." Gamakichi said while chuckling.

Hinata leaned down and whispered softly in Narutos ear. "Never going to happen. So you may as well forget about it." Hinata turned her gaze back to Konohamaru. "Now Konohamaru, just remember if I ever even hear that you've used that jutsu ever again and if I'm in a really, really good mood I will simply inform Sakura and Tsunade-sama about it. On the other hand if I happen to be in a bad mood…lets just say it will be much worse for you."

Konohamaru couldn't explain it as he felt rooted to the ground by the look in Hinatas eyes. He had met her many times before and while he didn't consider her a friend they could be called casual acquaintances. In all that time he had never once even suspected that the normally quiet and reserved young woman was anything other than a 'nice' person that wouldn't hurt a fly. Now he felt that she was quite possibly the scariest person he had ever encountered. From this day forward he would gladly face Sakuras fury before he would even think of irritating Hinata. He had glimpsed something that even though it was quiet, it was hard, strong and horrifying deep within her eyes that had completely unnerved him.

Naruto continued to hear Hinatas words to him in his head as the image of her and Sakura together slowly faded. Her words to Konohamaru finally started to register and even though he hadn't seen her eyes he had heard the deep seemingly endless anger in her voice. It was something he had only vaguely heard when Hinata had challenged the damn fox for him. It slowly began to dawn on him that he had also felt something else in her voice this time, something nobody else would likely have been able to detect. Somehow he knew that under the anger and intimidation she had completely focused on his poor young friend there had been the slightest sliver of fear.

Naruto pondered that for a moment. _'Why would such an image of her and Sakura together cause Hinata to feel afraid?'_ He thought to himself.

Sakura. He thought back over all the years and all the countless times he had pursued the pink haired girl. All that time Hinata had been there as well, secretly liking and secretly watching Naruto. While he didn't so much as ignore her, he hadn't even seen her all those times. Seeing Konohamaru choose Sakura for such a jutsu must have brought back all the hurt feelings he had unintentionally subjected her to all those times. Naruto suddenly felt ashamed of himself.

"Hinata?" Naruto reached up and took her hand. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" She asked looking slightly puzzled.

"Yes." Naruto lowered his eyes and spoke softly. "I'm sorry for all the times I didn't see you for all those years because I was being too much of an idiot about Sakura. I know Konohamaru didn't intend anything more than to finally beat me with the sexy jutsu but I'm sure it must have hurt your feelings seeing a reminder of all those years of me foolishly chasing after Sakura."

Hinata stood there stunned. She had not expected anything like that from Naruto. Tears began to well up in her eyes and she squeezed his hand tightly as she sat down next to him. Naruto saw the beginnings of her tears.

"Hinata…always remember that you are the one who holds my heart and I never want that to ever change."

Hinata smiled as she leaned over taking him into a hug burying her face in his shoulder to hide the small amount of tears. As her emotions jumped around his words started to sink in and she felt an incredible feeling of warmth as she settled into a happiness she had never expected to find for herself. Naruto truly was hers and once again she was sure that not only would he always be hers but she knew that she would also always be his.

"I'm going to explain a few things to Konohamaru, O.K?" He asked her.

"Of course." She replied as she let him go and grabbed a paper napkin from the picnic basket to dry her tears.

Naruto stood and walked over to the still shivering Konohamaru. "Come on."

Naruto pulled him up by his shoulder and walked a short distance away from Gamakichi and Hinata. Naruto gave his young friend a short run down on the whole situation of himself, Hinata and Sakura. The younger genin had seen some of the story himself over the years and he also began to feel ashamed of himself as he realized what Naruto was saying.

"I think it's safe to say that you've not only finally beat me with the sexy jutsu but that I will never be able to match you with this jutsu ever again. Don't expect any more wins with anything else though. Defeating me with a single jutsu doesn't mean you've won the battle. Besides you wouldn't want me to pull off my own girl on girl jutsu for you featuring Moegi and Kaede now would you?" Naruto grinned evilly to his young friend.  
Konohamaru paled at Narutos final words. He then relaxed slightly, Naruto had conceded, at least as far as this particular jutsu was concerned, even though he had already thought of a counter for Konohamarus he had accepted defeat. Konohamaru looked at his long time friend with greater respect, Naruto really had changed a lot. The two walked back the short distance to the blanket.

"I am sorry Hinata-sama." Konohamaru said quietly as he bowed deeply.

"That is o.k. Konohamaru." Hinata turned to Naruto. "I take it that stuff like this is what Tsunade was talking about when she mentioned your perverted jutsus?"

"Umm, well…Yeah." Naruto dropped his eyes in shame as his face colored and he rubbed the back of his head. "It was something I came up with years ago and it turned out to be surprisingly effective in some cases. It was what convinced Jiraiya to first train me."

"It's a variant of your 'sexy jutsu' you once used it on Iruka sensei back to just before we graduated from the academy isn't it?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, the Third wasn't very happy when I taught it to Konohamaru."

"Well it looks like you will be more careful with stuff like this in the future."

Naruto sighed inside, giving up his sexy jutsu, at least around Hinata was a small price to pay to keep her happy or more importantly, not hurt her feelings.

Konohamaru left shortly after their discussion, unsettled but smiling. Gamakichi gave a wave and with a burst of smoke the large toad vanished. Naruto and Hinata finished their picnic and brought the dishes back to the suite where they found Kurenai relaxing with a book. The two ninja managed to wash this set of dishes without incident this time around, eliciting a small smile from Kurenai. With several hours to kill before dinner the spent the rest of the afternoon quietly wandering around Konoha hand in hand.

---ooo---

Naruto and Hinata entered the restaurant and looked around. They quickly spotted Ino waving at them from one of the larger tables. Choji and Shikamaru were already there as well. As Naruto and Hinata turned a corner inside they were also able to see Neji and Tenten sitting there as well. As they sat down Ino waved again, looking up they saw that Sakura and Lee had entered together with Shino and Kiba right behind them. Everyone was soon seated and the grills were soon filled with cooking food. Ino raised her glass.

"Here's to Naruto and Hinata finally getting out of the hospital!"

Everyone else raised there glasses and shouted 'here, here' much to the embarrassment of the two.

"So Naruto." Neji was the first to speak. "I hear that you've basically challenged the entire Hyuga clan. Care to elaborate on that one?"

"Nope." Naruto smiled as he snatched up a piece of barely cooked meat and started chewing still smiling.

"What!" Ino, Choji, Kiba and Tenten all called out together before they looked around and realized that many of the others must already know about this. Shino didn't visibly react but he did begin to study Narutos expressions.

"Lee! You didn't say anything to me about this one." Tenten glared at not just Lee but Neji as well.  
"I wouldn't say he challenged the whole clan." Lee answered.

"From what Hiashi-sama said, Naruto has claimed that he can beat the 64 and 128 palm techniques and that he had a way of defeating the Kaiten. He then claimed that he and Hinata together could beat all of the Hyuga clan." Neji said.

Naruto swallowed and said with a big grin. "Sounds 'bout right. Although I think Hinata and I need about a week to iron a few things out to guarantee that we can wipe the floor with whole Hyuga clan. We are unbeatable together."

Hinata thought the looks of shock around the table were a little unnerving and she blushed slightly.

"You were serious!" Lee exclaimed.

"More serious than when I said I'd beat Neji when we fought at that chuunin exam and everyone knows how that one turned out." Narutos grin became more serious and his smile took on a self assured look that bordered almost on arrogance.

'_Damn he must have something good, he's not lying.'_ Neji thought.

"So what are you going to do?" Ino asked.

"Can't say, it's a secret." Naruto continued to smile.

Everyone slowly got over their shock at Narutos words and began to eat quietly. Naruto began to seriously and covertly study his friends. This was the first time in quite a long time he was able to spend some time with them and Naruto found a lot of things extremely intriguing. Now that he was dating Hinata he was noticing things that he had never even seen before. It was glaringly obvious that Lee still cared deeply for Sakura. While Sakura seemed so introspective that she was bordering on anti-social. Naruto figured her behavior had to be due to their recent encounter with Sasuke. There was something odd between Ino and Choji but Naruto was certain that they weren't seeing each other. He simply didn't know enough about people and relationships to figure out if they were simply really good friends or there was the beginning of something more. Tenten was even more interesting, she seemed to be attracted to both Lee and Neji. She also seemed irritated with both of them as well. Neji seemed more interested in eyeing Naruto though and the blond ninja was beginning to think that Neji's focus on himself along with Lee's fascination with Sakura were the things that were irritating Tenten. Naruto would have thought that Shikamaru would have shown some interest in Ino by now but Naruto only noticed his Nara friend smirk slightly from time to time when he was watching Choji and Ino interact. Maybe there really was something going on between him and Temari in spite of both of their protests to the contrary. Naruto began to look around the restaurant and observe other couples. There were a few that were obviously dating and in many ways those pairs reminded him of how he and Hinata acted together. He did take note though that nobody in any of those 'unknown' couples were shinobi.

As he glanced back over his friends he realized that Lee had stopped stealing glances at Sakura and was now looking to him.

"What's up Lee?"

"Umm, well I was wondering." Lee paused as his cheeks colored slightly. "About Shimon…what was it like?"

"Umm, maybe we could discuss that later. After all Kakashi sensei is going to bring me out to discuss that stuff with you and Gai sensei soon." Naruto was rather concerned about his friends intense interest.

"Shimon?" Neji's head turned to Naruto in a blur with his eyes wide, quite an unusual look for him Naruto thought as he smirked.

"Something wrong Neji?" Naruto asked with an almost feral grin.

"I take it from Lee's question that there's some sort of implication that you've opened Shimon?" Neji's eyes had narrowed and somehow without a word he had activated his Byakugan.

"Pretty much." Naruto's feral grin was back

'_Damn! Again, he's not lying.'_ Neji thought this time completely shocked as his Byakugan faded.

Every one around the table had stopped eating. With the exceptions of Hinata and Sakura, who were looking down, every single one of his friends was staring wide eyed at Naruto. Shikamaru and Lee had known about it yet they still looked shocked. Even Choji had been stunned to the point where he had forgotten his food.

"Care to explain how you could have possibly opened 'The Gate of Death' and yet still be here and alive?" Neji asked quietly.

"Hey it did put me in the hospital for something like a week didn't it? When was the last time I was ever in the hospital for more than a few days? Even the time Sasuke basically killed me twice I was sneaking out of the hospital a day or so later." Naruto suddenly frowned as he thought to himself. _'Damn, I screwed up there.'_

"What!" Several voices exclaimed.

Naruto looked around and sighed before looking to Hinata. She squeezed his hand and he knew whatever he decided to say she would support him.

"Naruto, what do you mean about Sasuke killing you twice?" Sakura softly asked with a sad intensity to her eyes.

Narutos shoulders sagged and he looked down. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Naruto looked around at his friends and knew he wasn't going to get out of this one and he'd have to explain the whole thing.

"Naruto you can't stop there." Sakura said.

"Yeah, I know. It was when he ran away from the village and we tried to get him back that first time. That was the mission that nearly killed Neji and Choji. They and everyone else on that mission probably would have died if Gaara's team hadn't arrived." Naruto paused for a few moments.

"Go on Naruto." Hinata softly said as she reached over with her free hand and softly grasped his forearm.

Naruto looked into her eyes before he continued. "Everyone else had stayed behind to deal with the Sound Five so I could be the one to face Sasuke. Everyone thought that I had the best chance to stop him and bring him home. We fought at the Valley of the End. It was unbelievable. He got some sort of power from Orochimaru, I think the others that fought the Sound Five saw each of them transform into monsters, well Sasuke was able to do it as well by the time I caught up with him." Naruto looked around at all of his friends.

"I guess I should explain about the fox first." He paused again. "A lot of you already know but for those of you who don't, well the short story is that the nine tailed fox is sealed within me."

His friends started glancing around at each other and it was easy to tell those that already knew by who had the looks of shock and who had the looks of sadness. Nobody wanted to push Naruto now but he was certain that some of them would approach him about that short explanation fairly soon.

"Anyway Sasuke and I had an incredible battle. I was drawing on the nine tails power to keep up but every time I thought I had the upper hand he would escalate his power and beat the crap out of me until I pumped up more power myself. I'm not sure if I even know what happened first anymore. He got the third Sharingan fleck in each eye and he got those weird marks all over his body and then all the marks merged together and he grew some huge and freaky looking wings out of his back that looked like hands. Before all of that happened though, our first really full on collision we faced off with me using a full power Rasengan and him using a full power Chidori. That was basically a draw and we went back and forth several times." Naruto took a second to gather his thoughts.

"He was using a whole mess of fire jutsus and I have no idea how many clones I created. One of the times he had the upper hand by using those weird marks that grow from his shoulder, he was able to charge up a massive Chidori and he rammed it through my chest or more like my shoulder I guess. Even though I was able to deflect it at the last instant so it missed my heart he pretty much punched a hole completely through my chest, shoulder area and out my back. That should have killed me so I count that as one but the damn fox pulled me through and pretty much immediately healed the gaping hole. For a while there I was able to beat the crap out of him. Well for a little while anyway but I think that was when he triggered the third Sharigan fleck in each of his eyes and he turned the tables on me. I think it was right after that that he managed to trap me in a full body lock and he slammed me headfirst into the ground from some ridiculous height in the air to break my neck. That was the second time he should have killed me but the fox pulled me through again. That was the first time I ever pulled so much power from the fox that I sort of grew a tail. Well things got really ugly and we did some major damage to the Valley of the End. He pulled that second transformation then and grew those freaky wings while I had the single tail shroud. We faced off again with another Rasengan against Chidori and that was the last thing I remember until I woke up on Kakashi sensei's back as he took me back to Konoha."

Everyone was completely stunned. Naruto had never told that story to anyone before. Tsunade and Jiraiya probably had a rough idea from Kakashi's assessment of the battlefield but this was the closest anyone had ever gotten to hearing a first hand report of what had happened. Sakura took the story the hardest though. She felt a terrible sinking in her chest.

"Naruto…" Sakura started to say as tears formed in her eyes and began to stream down her face. "Naruto, I'm so sorry." She couldn't take it anymore and broke down sobbing.

Naruto looked over to Lee and gave his head a shake towards Sakura. Lee put his hand on Sakuras shoulder as Naruto got up and tugging Hinata along with him, he walked to Sakura.

Sakura looked up through her tears. "Oh, Naruto…I, I don't deserve to be your friend. I was so horrible to you all those years and I was so wrapped up in Sasuke I didn't see that he could do something like that." She hung her head down again.

"Don't say that, I need all of my friends. I'm not about to give up anyone who can put up with me."

"How can you possibly forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive, just let it all go and stop worrying about me. I don't really hold any of that fight against Sasuke and I'm certainly not going to hold a grudge against you."

Sakura looked up again _'__You can hurt Naruto all you want and it simply doesn't bother him.'_ Tsunades words voice ran through her head. Sakura hadn't realized just how literal that truth could be. "Thank you Naruto." The pink haired girl said softly as she stood up and took him into a hug.

"For my friends, anything. Besides without my friends who would I complain about." Naruto laughed as He disengaged from Sakura and squeezed Hinata's hand. As he guided Hinata back to their seats he whispered a soft thank you to his girlfriend.

Naruto addressed everyone. "One thing that battle showed me was that Sasuke needs his friends more than he realizes. I'm not about to give up on him. We shouldn't dwell on stuff like that right now anyway, this is supposed to be a happy time and times like these are precious."

"But Naruto, you were about to explain opening Shimon." Lee looked at Naruto, pleading with his eyes.

"Yes Naruto I am extremely curious as well." Neji spoke as well.

Naruto sighed. "O.K. the really short and sweet version. Normally the more power I draw from the damn fox the more the fox dominates me. When I hit four tails the fox is nearly in complete control. I have been avoiding using the fox's chakra since I was losing myself but when I saw Hinata fall I kind of lost it and I'm pretty sure I hit four tails immediately. Well Hinata managed to pull me away from the fox and I reverted back to normal. One of the attacking grass ninja slipped past me right then and ran a javelin through Hinata." Naruto paused to look into Hinatas eyes. "I snapped then. I had completely stopped caring about myself and I opened every gate. The last thing I remember after that was ripping the fox's power away from him. I've always asked before but not that time. Sorry Lee but that's all I really remember. You'd have to ask Hinata, Jiraiya or Sakura.

"I was unconscious." Hinata said before anyone could ask and all eyes turned towards Sakura.

"Well what happened?" Several of them asked at nearly the same time.

"Yeah what happened Sakura."

"I don't really know, I was trapped under a rock for most of that. When I got out and revived Jiraiya." Sakura paused and looked intently at Naruto. "He changed. You all should understand, when Naruto draws on the fox's power a red chakra surrounds him. The more he draws on the darker and more intense it gets. Somewhere along the line that red chakra starts to form tails, the more tails, the more power and the more the fox is in control. When he hits four tails it seems that the fox is basically killing him, Narutos blood actually seems to get pulled out of him and it appears to boil through the red chakra. Also at four tails the red chakra gets so dark that it starts to look black in places. Well I think it was when he opened the eighth gate that I woke up. When I was finally able to see him he had completely taken the full form and size of the nine tailed fox. Only somehow Naruto seems to have suppressed the fox by using the celestial gates and that nine tailed form wasn't red or black. It was a luminescent white. He started forming a whole mess of giant Rasengans and merged them into a ring. When Jiraiya saw that he summoned the Chief Toad and we fled. We must have been a couple of dozen kilometers away when he released that jutsu. You should understand that we were literally fighting hundreds of ninja. After the blast wave passed us we went back and found the two of them untouched in the center of a massive crater that was several kilometers across. All of the attacking ninja were gone. From what Tsunade said they think only one managed to survive at all."

Sakura stopped and everyone was quiet for a few minutes. Finally Lee spoke.

"So you opened all eight gates and survived. Amazing."

"It's only because of the fox I'm sure Lee." Naruto gave his friend a wry grin.

"Still, I've gotten close to opening the seventh but Gai sensei stopped me from pushing some time ago. He's always said that once you get to the sixth the final two would be easy to open in the right circumstances."

"I guess that goes further than just the sixth. I was only able to open the first gate prior to that mission and I didn't have any problems opening all of them at that time."

There was another uncomfortable pause in the conversation.

"Hey, hey, didn't I say this was supposed to be a happy time! I've heard that I'm the only one of us here who hasn't made chuunin. Apparently Neji here has gone as far as jounin." Naruto looked over to Neji. "So…jounin need to be able to manipulate at least two elements, which two did you learn Neji?"

"I think I'll hold onto that information until after the assessment fight Naruto." Neji said, this time with a smile of his own.

"I guess that's only fair."

"Assessment fight? You'd think that I'd know about these things since we're still team mates." Tenten asked as she alternated glares towards Neji and Lee.

"It's no big deal Tenten." Naruto jumped in, again with the almost feral smile. "Just a few minor fights so I can teach the Hyuga clan about a few weaknesses in their techniques."

"You seem rather sure of yourself Naurto. I've heard that you've been working on nature manipulation yourself lately, you wouldn't mind telling me about that would you?" Neji maintained his own smile.

"Wait a second." Ino jumped in this time. "You spoke to Hinatas father like that Naruto? He must be seriously ticked off at you."

"Actually Hiashi-sama seems quite intrigued by Naruto here. Although I think it's safe to say that the Hyuga elder is nearly fit to be tied over Narutos attitude. From what Hiashi-sama told me I believe that the elder and Naruto here almost came to blows the other night at the Hokages office." Neji answered.

"That old bastard is just lucky that I had just got out of the hospital and that Tsunade was there to save his ass." Naruto grumbled.

"Seriously?" Ino looked at first Neji then Naruto before turning to Hinata. "What about your dad Hinata? I would think he'd be less than thrilled about all of this."

"I do not know." Hinata answered quietly. "My father has not been acting in a way I would have thought he would towards Naruto. Naruto-kun you really should not speak that way about the Hyuga elder."

"For you I'll try but he's going to have to lose his own attitude first."

"Naruto before we get sidetracked any further." Neji said as he tossed a brief glare towards Ino. "I believe we were talking about nature manipulation."

"Oh yeah, well Kakashi sensei and Yamato sensei have been helping me master wind, mostly so I can combine it with the Rasengan. We're hoping to complete the Fourth Hokages technique."

"The Fourth's technique?" Lee asked.

"Yeah, the Rasengan. Didn't you guys know?" Naruto looked around and realized many of his friends looked confused. "Well the Fourth developed the Rasengan but its incomplete so Kakashi sensei and Yamato sensei have been working with me so I can complete it."

Choji nearly choked on the slice of beef he was eating. Kiba though was the first to jump on what Naruto had said.

"You want us to believe that you're going to complete something the Fourth couldn't? I think Sakura has been hitting you in the head harder than we all thought." Kiba started laughing after he said that.

"Kiba, you are one of the people who should know best not to underestimate Naruto." Shino stated causing Kibas laughter to abrubtly stop.

"What! I've already taken it further than the Forth was able to. In fact Ino and Choji have seen the partially complete version in action already." Naruto said as he smiled a small wordless thanks to Shino who simply nodded.

Choji and Ino's eyes grew wide. "You mean that was only partially complete?" Ino said obviously shocked while Choji looked at Naruto in obvious awe.

"It doesn't really matter though, Tsunade-sama told you to not use it anymore." Sakura said finally joining the others.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "She only meant the Rasen-Shuriken. I don't have any problems with the Fuuton Rasengan itself. Besides I'll figure something out so I can use the Rasen-Shuriken safely."

"So you only have one element then?" Neji asked.

"So far, I'm sure I'll pick up another one soon enough

"You used water manipulation when you had the nine tailed form Naruto." Sakura said softly.

"I did? That doesn't make any sense. I haven't learned any water manipulation yet and my chakra only has a preference for wind." Naruto looked deep in thought. "I'm pretty sure that the damn fox's chakra has a fire affinity. So I don't think that was from the fox."

"Jiraiya-sama was quite surprised himself when he realized you were molding water into that attack." Sakura added.

"Hinata-sama I believe your chakra has a water affinity." Neji shifted his intense stare to his cousin. "Have you started studying nature manipulation yet?"

"No, not seriously anyway. I've only done some reading about it. I'm not sure if I want to work towards achieving jounin just yet." Hinata said.

"Naruto don't you think that you're giving Neji a little too much information if you're planning on fighting the Hyuga clan soon?" Lee asked earning a glare from Neji.

"Nah, not at all." Narutos feral grin returned. "I'm not trying to kill any of them. Although, I may be somewhat tempted to rough that elder up a bit more than I should. So I won't be using anything we talk about here."

"You seem a little over confident Naruto." Neji stated.

"We'll see soon enough now won't we?" Narutos grin grew a little larger.

The rest of dinner was relatively quiet. Small conversations continued among them shifting around the table. Naruto tried to pester Shikamaru for some details on the recent chuunin exam but Shikamaru refused to answer claiming that Naruto shouldn't gain any information like that as long as he was a genin. Choji of course snagged the last piece of meat and they all tossed in money to cover the bill.

They all left the restaurant and before each started to head towards their homes they gathered in the street to say their goodbyes. Tenten was the first to leave as she dragged Neji off while giving Lee a short glare as he stood near Sakura. The others heard her whisper something harsh to Neji who winced at her words before they disappeared around a corner. Before long only Naruto and Hinata were left with Sakura and Lee. There was a short uncomfortable silence before Sakura stepped forward and took Naruto into a great hug.

"Thank you again. I really am so sorry, I wish things could be different." The pink haired kunoichi said before letting the blond ninja go.

"I told you, don't worry about it." He replied. Naruto stepped back and turned to Lee and took him off to the side to whisper. "Keep an eye on her please Lee."

"Of course Naruto-san." The green clad ninja flashed his brilliant smile.

Naruto smiled softly as he watched his two friends walk away before he took Hinatas hand and led her off in a different direction.

---ooo---

Naruto and Hinata returned to the suite to find that they had it to themselves. Naruto was quiet and somewhat distant from Hinata. She thought back to dinner and how Sakura and Naruto had interacted. Sakura's last words to Naruto kept repeating in her mind. Somehow Hinata knew that the two of them had grown much closer then. Now she felt his distance and her heart sank. He had told her several times that he was hers but seeing him with Sakura while the pink haired girl told him that she wished things were different was eating away at Hinata.

"Is something wrong Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked before pausing and then continuing nervously. "I-Its n-not Sa-Sakura is it." Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Hinata! Please stop." Naruto jumped at the return of her stutter and the sight of her tears nearly broke his heart. He gathered her into his arms. "Please don't cry. Sakura is a good friend, one of the best I've ever had but that's all she is and all she'll ever be now, just a friend. You are my girlfriend and I wouldn't do anything to change that."

Hinata sniffed as she rubbed her eyes. "Is it something else then Naruto-kun?"

"I'm not sure, maybe." Naruto looked at Hinata as she calmed down. "It's what Tsunade said this morning about relationships. She said that normally people our age should have been in a couple of relationships by now. I thought she basically meant that we would have to deal with me screwing up stuff and wrecking our relationship."

"Naruto, I told you that will be something we'll get through together."

"That doesn't worry me anymore, well not much anyway." He smiled sheepishly. "I just think that Tsunade was wrong."

"You think she was wrong?"

"Well either that or all of us are more screwed up than I thought."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure, I could be wrong, especially since I've been gone the past two and a half years. Hinata do know if any of the others have been in a relationship?"

"I don't really know." Hinata looked thoughtful. "I think Kiba has been on a few dates and maybe Ino has as well. I don't think Shino has and I think a lot of people suspect that something is going on between Shikamaru and Temari but I don't know. I've never seen them show any noticeable affection towards each other, hints maybe if you count the small insults they throw at each other, but nothing obvious. I'm sorry Naruto I really don't know. I'm just not that close to any of the others. Even between Shino, Kiba and I, we don't talk about dating."

"That's o.k., I just have a funny feeling that none of the others from our class have had any real relationships either other than maybe a few dates. Well like you said, maybe Shikamaru but I'm not sure. I never paid attention to any of this ever before, until tonight anyway. I was watching everyone and I don't think Sakura has dated anyone at all. I think she's still hung up on Sasuke. I also think it's definitely safe to say that Lee is still hung up on Sakura and he probably hasn't even dated anyone either. Ino, well Ino has this rivalry thing with Sakura and so she's chasing Sasuke too. She may have gone on a few dates but I don't think she's had anyone she'd consider a boyfriend. I think there is something between her and Choji but I don't think they're dating."

"Why is this so important to you?" Hinata asked as she took his hand.

"I'm not really sure. Part of it, I guess anyway, is that I didn't want me, you, I mean us to be all that different from everyone else. It just keeps going around in my head that maybe we are, not because we're behind everyone else when it comes to dating but that we're actually ahead of everyone. I'm starting to think that maybe its just all of us, maybe something we all picked up at the academy. I've seen plenty of other couples these past few days that were close to our age but none of them were shinobi. Maybe nobody wants to get too close to anyone else since we're all ninja. Maybe everyone is so afraid of losing someone that they aren't realizing that they really don't have anyone to lose in that way."

"Part of it?"

"Well the other part is that I'm still afraid of screwing up and losing you."

"I'm not going to be that easy to get away from silly."

"I know but still, I figured I would see what the others were doing and maybe I could learn some things that way. The more I watched the more it seemed that none of them knew anything either."

"This all seems a little uncharacteristic of you Naruto. You never really seemed all that perceptive before."

"It's all your fault." Naruto said with a grin.

"My fault?" What do you mean?"

"Well I was thinking earlier that if I had been better at noticing this kind of stuff I would have noticed you a lot sooner." Naruto laughed.

"I don't know about that, I'm sure there was more. Maybe you're just starting to grow up." Hinata said softly with a smile.

"You know maybe you're right." Naruto was overcome by a sudden realization.

"Are you o.k. Naruto?" Hinata asked suddenly concerned.

"Actually, I definitely think you are right, there was something more."

"What?" Hinata asked but Naruto was lost deep in thought. "What do you mean Naruto? What else has been going on?"

"I think it might be my new training."

"Your new training? How can new training be changing you like this?"

"Kakashi sensei came up with a new style of training for me using the Tajuu Kage Bunshin. Since I can generate so many clones and the experience gained by the clones comes back to me when they are dissipated, the more clones I train with, the faster the training goes. Working with a thousand clones for a week is like training for twenty years. I guess even though all of that was focused on jutsu training some of it must have effected my own growth in other areas."

"You've been training with a thousand clones?" Hinata was completely stunned, the open mouth, wide eyed type of shock in fact.

"Well sometimes more. I think it was closer to two thousand when Kakashi was first teaching me nature manipulation and I had to split a leaf."

The door opened, stopping their conversation and both Naruto and Hinata looked up, surprised to see that Kurenai wasn't alone as she entered. Smiling as she came in behind Kurenai munching on some dango was Anko.

"So I hear we're going to be hanging out in the hot tub tonight." Anko said with a humorous yet vicious grin.

Naruto and Hinata both paled at Anko's words. Before either of them could wrap their minds around what they had just heard, Tsunade and Shizune, each wearing robes, came in behind Anko.

"Shizune, could you start up the tub please?" Tsunade asked.

"Of course Tsunade-sama." Shizune said with a smile as she disappeared.

"Why aren't the two of you changed yet?" Tsunade demanded.

"I, uh, well, um, you see, it's like this, I think." Naruto started to babble.

"Idiot! That was a rhetorical question."

"Re-wha?" Naruto asked puzzled.

Before that conversation could go any further Anko simply smiled and began to undress right there in the common area in front of every one, not that she was wearing much to begin with. Narutos face grew red and with a squeak he vanished into 'his' room. Tsunade and Kurenai rolled their eyes at Anko while it was quickly revealed that the impulsive special jounin was already wearing a surprisingly modest black string bikini. Well modest for Anko anyway, she also retained her short sleeved mesh body suit over her swim suit.

"Come on Hinata." Kurenai said as she led the also blushing Hinata into 'their' room, so they could change.

Tsunade shrugged off her own robe and tossed it on one of the chairs to reveal that she was wearing a dark red one piece suit that seemed more than a little tight considering her massive chest. Giving Anko a short, pointed glare she gave a nod to Anko's pile of clothing. With a sigh Anko picked up her over coat and skirt to deposit them on one of the other chairs. Tsunade. Shizune came back into the common area followed by a dense cloud of steam. The sound of a lot of running water could be heard behind her through the now open door to the hot tub. Looking at Anko, ready in her swim suit and Tsunade also ready she took off her own robe to reveal a dark green bikini with tan trim.

"You know we should probably place an order for some snacks and sake." Anko said as she turned back from the chair.

"Now that sounds like an excellent idea." Tsunade said.

"Don't forget we still have to work tomorrow." Shizune said with a soft glare to Tsunade.

"Could you please relax for a little while, we'll only be here for an hour or so anyway." Turning back to Anko, Tsunade said. "There's plenty of sake here in the suite, we'll wait for Kurenai before we call for anything."

At that Kurenai came out leading the blushing Hinata, both in their new suits.

"Call for what?" Kurenai asked.

"We were thinking some sake and snacks would be a good idea." Tsunade answered as she looked to Hinata and Kurenai's just starting to bulge tummy. "Hmm, well some tea for you guys anyway."

"Yes tea for us would be more appropriate." Kurenai said with a hint of laughter.

"Naruto! Get your scrawny little ass in here already!" Tsunade yelled out.

"Alright, alright already, I'm coming." Naruto grumbled from the room.

Taking one last look at himself in the mirror he let out a great sigh, steeled himself and walked out into the common room. Since he couldn't see any way out of this particular situation, he figured he might as well try to enjoy it.

'Besides, _every man in Konoha would probably kill to switch places with me and I can probably torment Jiraiya about this one for years.'_ He thought to himself as he walked out into the common area to see the five women in their suits. At that point he completely forgot his nervousness and smiled.

It was a great idea and he knew the instant he looked at expression on Tsunade's face that she must have realized that the whole idea of hanging out in the hot tub with all of them no longer bothered him. His smile got a little broader, until he actually looked at Hinata. That pretty much stopped him dead in his tracks. His girlfriend was completely stunning in that suit. Neither of them had realized just how sensual the suit was even though he had gotten a brief look at it earlier that morning. The iridescent shades of dark blue shimmered in the soft light of the common area. As she moved, the dark blue multi hued fabric played in the light and seemed to blend with the mesh to the point where the fabric almost seemed to be mesh itself. It didn't help that the suit was made from a surprisingly sheer material that was so soft and stretchy that it also had the very disturbing quality of looking as if it were painted on to her.

Hinata took one look at the dazed expression on his face and blushed furiously. Although this time as she turned her head away, she had a very slight smile on her lips.

Tsunade stole a quick glance at a small watch and smiled.

"Hey Naruto we're going to order some wagashi, is there anything in particular that you would like?" Tsunade asked with a slightly evil glint to her eyes. She fine tuned her senses and felt a familiar presence approaching.

"I don't know. A bunch of dango would be fine I guess." He answered.

Tsunade smirked her timing for her next little prank on Naruto was almost perfect.

"Here Naruto." Tsunade handed him a small key. "Go over to that locked cabinet next to the refrigerator and bring me a couple of bottles of sake. There should be a bunch of sake cups in there as well, so grab a few of them as well."

Naruto snapped out of his daze at Tsunades orders, numbly took the key and turned around to head to the kitchen area. As he walked away something about Tsunades expression began to bother him. Opening the cabinet he pulled the first two bottles out and grabbed about a half dozen cups. Walking back he focused on Tsunade and noticed she had something of a smirk on her face. Narrowing his eyes at her as he walked up to stand between Hinata and Tsunade, he just knew something was up.

Before he could hand over the bottles and cups there was a knocking at the door. Somehow he just knew this had to be what Tsunade was smirking about. Unable to do any hand signs because of the bottles he couldn't pull off a replacement jutsu or henge. He didn't think he could run either without dropping the cups so he stood there as Anko opened the door to reveal Iruka sensei.

"Nn-Na-Naruto?" Iruka stammered out as he saw all the women standing around Naruto and his eyes grew wide.

Naruto stood there in his swim trunks holding the sake and cups, surrounded by a bunch of swim suit clad women, while the steam from the hot tub wafted around all of their ankles. Irukas eyes darted from woman to woman before settling back to the blushing and grimacing Naruto.

"Isn't he just the sweetest darling?" Anko suddenly said as she practically slithered in between Naruto and Hinata and with an evil grin and a wink to Tsunade, she slowly licked Narutos cheek.

Naruto was stunned and his whole body twitched causing him to finally drop the bottles and cups. Luckily for him both Anko and Tsunade each plucked a bottle and set of cups from the air before they could fall far. His reaction paled compared to Hinatas. The sight of the skimpy bikini clad Anko sliding in between her and her boyfriend caused her to stiffen with anger. When she saw Anko actually lick Narutos cheek her blood grew cold. Without a second thought she squeezed in between Anko and Naruto, actually pushing the grinning Anko away from her boyfriend.

"Excuse me!" Hinata glared daggers of such intense anger at Anko that the special jounin actually took a step back. "I would appreciate it if you kept your hands and most especially your tongue off of my boyfriend." Hinata wrapped her arm around Narutos waist holding him possessively. Hinata was suddenly confused as Anko winked at her and she caught a quick hand signal from Kurenai to relax.

"Awww, come on Hinata deary, you can share just a bit." Anko said in a sultry voice. "I'm sure I can make it worth your while." Anko stepped forward and ran her hand down Narutos chest. "Besides he's really starting to fill out quite nicely." Anko gracefully stepped back leaving a confused Hinata and very confused Naruto standing there. Throughout all of this Iruka simply stood there in shock.

"Iruka, thank you for stopping by like I asked, could you be a dear and pick us up a bunch of dango at that cute little restaurant on the corner." Tsunade asked with a smile as she pulled out her wallet.

"Could you also pick us up some cinnamon yatsuhashi?" Kurenai asked with a glance to Hinata.

"Don't forget some green tea too." Shizune said smiling herself.

"Off with you now Iruka, hurry back." Tsunade said as she turned him around and gave him a slight push.

As soon as the door closed the four older women all started laughing.

"You did all of that on purpose!" Naruto said scowling at Tsunade.

"Of course I did. What's wrong Naruto, can't handle having a prank being pulled on you?"

"Of course I can but that really wasn't fair to Iruka." Naruto glanced down at Hinata. "Or Hinata."

"Damn Naruto, are you actually starting to grow up?" Tsuanade said in a teasing tone. "Besides us getting a good laugh at your expense, you have now gained the ability to relax around Hinata while she's in that adorable suit. Now get into the hot tub you two."

Naruto grumbled but he carefully unwrapped himself from Hinatas arm and took her hand to lead her into the steam filled hot tub room. The water was still running and Naruto figured it was close enough to full that he turned it off. The almost silence was broken by a few giggles coming from the other room. Naruto scowled, shook his head and slowly eased himself into the tub, wincing slightly at the heat.

"It's great Hinata, come on in." He smiled.

"O.K." She said softly as she stepped over the edge and lowered herself into the hot water and snuggled up next to Naruto, who draped his arm over her shoulder.

The two felt all of the tensions of the past few days ease out of them as the heat seeped into their bodies. Before either of them could completely relax the four older women came in and all of them smiled at the young couple and they each climbed into the tub. Anko getting a soft glare from Hinata, letting her know that she had crossed a line. While Naruto and Hinata simply sat there enjoying the hot water the other four maintained a low buzz of idle chit chat, mostly about the recent chuunin exam. Naruto listened intently but didn't learn anything he felt would be at all useful. He was beginning to think he would be a genin forever at this rate and he began to wonder if anyone ever jumped from genin to kage ever before in any village.

After fifteen minutes or so there was a knock on the door.

"Just come in already Iruka!" Tsunade called out.

They heard the door open and in a few moments a red faced Iruka entered the hot tub room. He glanced around and giving Naruto a look that was a cross between incredulity and envy he placed a couple of packages and a large steaming pot of tea. Shaking his head he gave Tsunade the change and without saying a word he left, still shaking his head.

The four older women all giggled as they heard the front door close. Naruto rolled his eyes but quickly forgot about any of that as he eyed the two packages. Kurenai noticed where his attention was focused and she smiled as she opened up the slightly larger package and handed out some dango. Opening the second package she pulled out a triangular yatsuhashi and handed it to Hinata, who smiled and murmured a quiet thanks to Kurenai. Hinata was having a hard time keeping her eyes open after finishing her yatsuhashi and she smiled softly as she nuzzled up to Naruto. With a drowsy look on her face she slowly reached over and gingerly caressed his ribs with her finger tips for a moment. Reaching over a little more she ran her hand over his stomach and her smile broadened a bit as she felt his hard stomach quiver at her touch. As Naruto became fully awake from her touch she actually dozed off more relaxed and content than she could ever remember.

Naruto slowly relaxed as he listened to Hinatas steady breathing and he started to doze off himself.

"O.K. I think we've all been in here long enough." Tsunade said with a smile. It didn't take long before everyone was fully awake and out of the tub. After helping his drowsy girlfriend up and into the common area after the others, he turned back to empty the tub and cleaned up the small mess. Returning to the common room Tsunade, Shizune and Anko were all wearing robes and saying their goodbyes.

"Remember everything I said Naruto and don't forget to be at my office at 10:00 tomorrow morning." Tsunade said with a firm smile as she tousled his hair and turned to leave with Shizune and Anko.

"10:00 it is then." Naruto smiled back at her giving a small wave as the door closed, leaving just the three of them.

Tsunade and Hinata disappeared into their room so Naruto went into his room to dry off and change into a pair of dark shorts and a green t-shirt. A few minutes in the bathroom had his teeth brushed and his wet suit hanging over the tub. Heading back out to the common area and stood there for a few moments. He smiled as Hinata came out of the room she was supposedly sharing with Kurenai and smiled shyly. She had changed into a light weight pair of gray sweat pants and also was wearing a green t-shirt. Without a word she took his hand and led Naruto back into his room. Reaching the bed she turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him down and kissed him soundly. Letting go she climbed into the bed and pulled him in as well. He lay down on his back and put his arm around her shoulders as she turned onto her side. She let out a soft sigh as she slowly pulled the bottom of his shirt up slightly and ran her fingers along his stomach again. His heart raced and he fully woke up eyes wide as her hand reached up inside his shirt to slowly caress his chest. She nuzzled his shoulder slightly and softly kissed the side of his neck. A deep tiredness took her and she slowly moved her hand back to his stomach. Reaching into his shirt he softly covered her hand with his own

"Good night Naru-chan." She said with the faintest of smiles as her consciousness began to fade.

"Good night to you as well, Hinata-chan."

He knew from her breathing that she was already asleep. Listening to her breath softly and slowly began to lull him to sleep as well.

'_Yes this was most definitely a very good day.'_ He thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.

---------------------

A/N - follow up

I'm sure that many people thought about Konohamaru pulling off a Sakura/Hinata 'girl on girl' sexy jutsu when his original was shown in chapter 347 of the Manga, I know it was the first thing I thought of. I've been hoping to finish the second scenes here for more than a week to put that one up. I haven't seen anyone else use it yet but like I said I'm sure that it was a very popular idea and will become quite common. It would be cool to see it in the Manga but without building some sort of NaruHina relationship it wouldn't be as effective and Konohamaru would likely pick almost any leaf kunochi (or all of them ;) )to pair with Sakura in an attempt to rattle Naruto. I was feeling a little rushed to get all of this posted and get that scene out there so I hope I didn't miss any glaring mistakes. I did catch one last that would have been rather embarrassing but didn't see any others in my two read throughs.


	13. Chapter 13 bugs!

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several (up to 6 since #14 came out) of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.

Sorry about the quick little chapter here, this wasn't what I intended but even though I've got another 6,000 words done and there's some good stuff I'm not quite finished polishing with yet. Hopefully I didn't miss any glaring mistakes, I simply didn't have enough time to really edit this part. I'm packing up now to head off to Oklahoma and the tank issues have been a massive headache. I'm going to be completely tied up for at least another week. So I split off the opening scene of ch. 13 simply to put up some news.

Ch. 13

Naruto woke quickly and silently, actually listening intently to his surroundings before slowly opening his eyes to carefully look around. For the briefest of moments he nearly panicked as he realized he had his arms around someone. Then the past few days came flooding back to him and he relaxed as he became consciously aware of the faint scent of Hinata and her lilac perfume. Smiling softly he glanced down to her raven hair and her small form under the blanket. They had both turned during the night and she now had her back pressed up against his chest. He carefully disengaged his arms from her and gently got out of bed. Heading out to the common area he found that Kurenai was already awake and reading. They exchanged silent smiles as Naruto heading off to the kitchen. Grabbing a couple of the trail mix bars from another box he quickly wolfed them down. Looking around he decided that the space between the eating area and the common area was large enough so he quickly ran through a few basic taijutsu forms. He then ran through a stretching routine and did a quick dozen pushups. Quickly getting up he smiled as he saw Hinata enter the common area. After a quick exchange of pleasantries between the three of them Hinata headed into the kitchen to begin breakfast. Naruto was captivated for a moment by the quiet grace she had as she walked by him. After a quick blink he figured it was a good time to check the link. Eyeing Hinatas position in the kitchen he headed to the front door. He almost made it to the door before he felt the link tug slightly. Looking back he saw that Hinata had felt the tug as well and he judged the distance was just about 10 meters.

They had already formed something of a morning routine with Hinata preparing breakfast while Naruto showered and got ready. Kurenai had spent most of the time reading while covertly watching the two interact. Unlike her two young room mates though, Kurenai barely ate anything as she had started to experience a mild case of 'morning sickness'. After the morning meal Naruto took care of the clean up while Kurenai and Hinata showered. To save some time Hinata had used the shower in the bathroom attached to the room she was sort of sharing with Naruto.

Although they had gotten a relatively early start at nearly seven am, Naruto and Hinata had lost track of time as they drifted through the streets of Konoha. Despite risking being late for their morning appointment with Tsunade, Naruto insisted he needed a bowl of ramen and they stopped at Ichiraku's. Hinata nervously played with her fingers as she watched the clock while Naruto nearly inhaled the single bowl. Even though she was getting accustomed to his voracious eating habits she was still surprised that he could put away even that one bowl after he had eaten nearly four times what she had eaten for breakfast just a few hours earlier.

Hinata was relieved to see that they made it to Tsunades office in time, just barely but still on time. As they entered they were surprised to see Shino along with his father Shibi Aburame

Shibi and Shino were each carrying a dozen small boxes. They held an odd sort of carry case in each hand and each case held six boxes. Naruto looked intently at the boxes but couldn't discern anything from the outside of the boxes.

Hinata bowed and spoke a soft greeting to each of the Aburames along with a separate bow and greeting for the Hokage. Naruto completely forgot what little manners he possessed being completely absorbed by the boxes. He was sure that there was a soft buzzing from each and was becoming quite certain that they must contain bugs.

"Hey Shino, what's in the boxes? I bet it's a bunch of bugs isn't it?"

"You are correct Naruto." Shino answered.

"Why all the different boxes?"

"Each box contains a different strain of kikai."

"Different strain? Aren't they all pretty much the same?"

"Hardly." Shino looked to his father for a moment before continuing. "The kikai are actually similar to families in some ways. Much like the Uchiha and Hyuga, different families of kikai can have slightly different abilities."

"Cool, I guess. Although I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference I bet." Naruto smiled while he was reasonably certain that Shino was rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses.

"Naruto I'm going to have you start working with the Aburame clan and see if it's possible for them to develop a strain of kikai that can more easily feed on demonic chakra." Tsunade joined in.

"Hey, that's a great idea." Naruto smiled for a moment before his thoughts ran to what must be next if he was going to be involved and his smile quickly faded. "You're not going to have them feed on me are you?"

"You better believe it." Tsunade said with a vicious grin.

"This is just some preliminary tests Naruto." Shibi said in a quiet voice similar in tone to his sons.

"In fact it may take months before we actually get a strain that we'll be having nibble on you." Shino said with a surprisingly obvious smile.

"O.K. Naruto, enough chit, chat, I want you to pull out some of the fox's chakra. Just a bit mind you. I don't want you straining yourself but I'd like to get this project started as soon as possible." Tsunade spoke.

Naruto spent the next half hour or so drawing on the demonic chakra inside of him. With Hinatas help they were able to keep it to a minimum while being certain that the selected kikai were being exposed to the fox's chakra only. The Aburame's marked off three of the boxes after all had been exposed.

"This is a bit more promising than I had hoped Godaime Hokage-sama." Shibi said as he bowed to Tsunade. We will return tomorrow with more sub strains of these three."

"Very good Aburame-san." Tsunade said with a very satisfied smile.

The two Aburame's said their goodbyes and silently left. Naruto shuddered slightly as he envisioned further testing that would involve hordes of bugs crawling all over him.

"O.K. with that out of the way, let me get a look at you." Tsunade said as she came around her desk. With a bit of concentration she gave Naruto a quick medical scan and frowned slightly. "Hmm, I would have thought you'd be a bit better than this. I wouldn't have thought that drawing on the fox would have made much of a difference."

Tsunade looked thoughtful while Naruto shuffled his feet uneasily. Hinata squeezed his hand and gave him a stern look causing him to pale slightly and swallow. Tsunade caught the silent interplay between the two and found it rather intriguing before Naruto interrupted her thoughts.

"Well, umm, you see…" Naruto paused and gave a quick glance to Hinata who gave him the stern look again. "I kind of did a summons yesterday."

"Damn it Naruto! You should know better." Tsunade glowered at the young man.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to introduce Hinata-chan to Gamakichi."

Tsunade sighed. He was definitely the most frustrating of all the ninja under her command. Still once she factored in the summons his chakra levels made more sense. He still wasn't ready for any heavy training but at least he wasn't completely helpless. In fact she thought he was probably ahead of many chuunin even in his current depleted state.

"I guess I'll let that one slide, this time." She gave Naruto a hard look. "How have you two been doing with stretching the link?"

"We were able to get about ten meters this morning." Naruto replied.

"That's good, I want you to continue working on that but no more chakra intensive stuff until I say so. I'd look at it further but I don't think that would matter right now and I've got a full schedule today. So alright enough of this, get out of my office and go relax. In fact here." Tsunade rummaged through her desk and tossed him a small booklet as she saw Shizune peek in from the door. "Now beat it, I've got work to do, just be back here tomorrow morning at ten.

Naruto gave the booklet a quick glance and a huge smile plastered itself on his face as he realized exactly what it was.

"Thank you Tsunade-sama!" He said with a deep bow before grabbing Hinatas hand and hurrying out of the hokage's office. Hinata tried in vain to squeak out an appropriate farewell to Tsunade and got a smile from the Hokage as she was dragged off. Once outside she managed to get Naruto to slow down enough to explain to her what he had been given.

"It's an entire book of free meal passes!" He practically yelled. "Come on I could use another bowl of ramen, or three!"

"It's been barely more than an hour since your last bowl!" Hinata tried to protest as he dragged her off.

A/N

I finally setup an additional earthlink account and put up the sketch I made of the image I thought up that started this whole story. I based the sketch off of the scene from the Naruto/Sasuke battle at The Valley of the End, anyone who has seen that fight should recognize the base for the Kyuubi in my sketch.

There's also a bit of personal info there as well, I simple ran through the Earthlink site builder program for that one. I also put up a very short a sneak peek at the Naruto tragedy I'm also working on. When I first put this up last night something about the link messed up the rest of the chapter so I moved it to my profile and will actually use the preview, that'll teach me to upload stuff after midnight.

Anyway the sketch of the Nine Tails Fury is on my tjchaos earthlink page that is linked through my profile.

Later - T.J.


	14. Chapter 14 a day of food

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is 6 books of the Manga since #14 came out and now I've got the first three uncut DVD box sets.

A special thanks out to S'TarKan aka Matthew Schocke the author of 'Team 8' for letting me use 'Moritake's café' from his story. 'Team 8' is pretty much my favorite Naruto fanfic. It's id is 2731239 and I highly recommend that story.

I'd also like to thank everyone for all the reviews! Sorry it's getting longer between chapters, my life has been getting busy.

I'm debating to commission one of the artists over on deviantArt to redo my 'Nine Tails Fury' sketch I put up on my tjchaos earthlink page (link in my profile for those interested in seeing the image I thought up that started this whole story). I didn't really consider that possibility until I came across osy057's page. Although I haven't made any real decision one way or another if anyone has any artist recommendations that do commission work I'd love to check them out, just send me a link to their gallery.

One last thing, a warning for this chapter, it doesn't contain a lemon but the sexual overtone scenes in this chapter are the most I've written so far along those lines. You might call it a watered down almost lemon, perhaps weak lemonade?

Ch. 14

Teuchi smiled at the return of Naruto and Hinata. Even though Hinata begged off on getting a bowl herself Naruto polished off another three bowls. They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Konoha with Naruto making roughly one stop each hour for food. Each time he ate enough for a full meal that should have tied him over for four to six hours but practically every hour on the hour he was ready to eat again. The only thing more surprising than the amount of food he was eating was how quickly it would disappear. Hinata relented and actually ate with him around one o'clock, pretty much the only time they actually stopped to eat. It was nearly the end of the afternoon when Naruto decided that it'd probably be a good idea to check in on his apartment.

Naruto opened the door and simply walked in. Hinata stood in the doorway for a moment before following him in. She had never been alone with him in his apartment before and despite how close they'd been the past few days she was suddenly nervous. Naruto immediately set some water to boil in his electric teapot and pulled a cup of instant ramen from a cupboard stuffed with the packages. At the sight of the cup of instant ramen Hinata rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. While waiting for the water to boil he headed into the bedroom and started going through his collection of kunai. Examining each of the ones from his leg holster closely he decide to switch one out with one of the ones from the top drawer of his dresser. The one he removed was tossed into the second drawer from the top that contained a whole mess of kunai, most obviously damaged.

Hinata watched him bustle around with a soft smile as he moved some clothing from his bed to the top of his dresser and ran back to the kitchen when the teapot whistled. It seemed like seconds later when he bustled back into the bedroom, the instant ramen apparently gone, he suddenly turned red faced and excused himself as he headed into the bathroom. Hinata blushed as the door closed and he was gone for several minutes. She sat on the edge of his bed and looked around at the sparse room. Other than an old picture of Team 7, there really wasn't much here that indicated Naruto lived here. Hinata felt that he probably spent very little time here other than sleeping, eating and such.

A few minutes passed when Naruto practically surged back into the bedroom, closing the door behind him and jumped onto the bed, stretching out against the wall. Leaning up on one elbow he looked at Hinata with a relaxed smile.

"So what do you want to do next Hinata-chan?"

Hinatas cheeks suddenly flushed with a soft blush and she practically jumped off of the bed.

"I-I don't know N-Naruto-kun." She said with her back to him.

"Hey! What's wrong? You've barely stuttered in days." He asked suddenly worried.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I-I was a bit overwhelmed being on your bed with you."

"What? Hinata, you do remember that we've been sleeping together in the same bed these past two nights don't you?" Naruto said with a slightly mischievous smile.

"This is different." She replied softly.

"Oh." He said softly before he suddenly grinned from ear to ear. "You were thinking **bad** thoughts, weren't you Hinata-chan!" He said with a mock shocked voice.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata turned back around to face him and stamped her foot trying to make him take her seriously despite the fact that her cheeks had become a much brighter red.

"Ah, I see now." Impossibly he seemed to smile even further. "You were thinking _good_ thoughts."

"NARUTO-KUN!" Her eyes grew wide and her whole face grew red as her blush spread to her ears and down her shirt.

"Wow, Hinata-chan, just how far down does that blush go anyway?" He asked striving desperately to appear completely innocent.

Something in Hinata snapped, maybe it was all the years of being quiet weighing down on her, maybe it was all the sudden and major changes in her life recently, whatever the reason or reasons though for a very brief moment most if not all of her inhibitions vanished. With a sudden burst of very uncharacteristic inspiration and before her color or sense for that matter, could return to normal she grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it up over her head, taking it completely off. "I don't know, why don't **you** tell me just how far down it goes."

Naruto was once again completely stunned into speechlessness as his jaw fell open and his eyes glazed over at the sight of his girlfriend standing before him with her shirt off. She had a similar bra on that she had worn during their bubble fight only this one was a sheer grayish silver color, that despite being completely dry was semi-translucent. Realizing what she had done her blush actually intensified and with a quick glance down she saw that the red color actually spread to a few inches below her naval. With a sharp intake of breath she pulled her shirt back on in a flash.

As Hinata stood there quietly pressing her two index fingers together while looking down intently at the floor for a few moments as Naruto shook off the coma like trance he was in.

"You know, you don't have to do things like that to let me know how beautiful you are, I can see that in your eyes." The suddenly subdued Naruto softly said.

"Oh, Naruto." She paused for a moment before climbing back onto the bed with him and as she pulled him up into a hug she whispered. "Thank you."

"For what? It's the truth you know." Naruto paused for a moment. "Now that was certainly a surprise."

"Tell me about it." She said with her eyes downcast for a moment before looking back up, leaning forward and whispering in his ear with a smile. "Just think of it as a small reminder of who is really in control, silly."

Naruto sat back and blinked. "I guess this is what Jiraiya was talking about when he said you had to watch out for the quiet ones." His mischievous grin came back. "Maybe I should tell him that he was right."

"Don't you dare!" She exclaimed.

"Well don't blame me if he says anything along those lines. I'm surprised he hasn't already said something like that because of how quiet you are."

Naruto smiled, he couldn't let her be in complete control after all. His stomach suddenly growled and Hinata frowned slightly at both his smile and his rumbling stomach.

"O.K. so I'm not in complete control." She rolled her eyes. "You just ate not five or ten minutes ago. You shouldn't be that hungry already."

"You're kidding right? That was just a single cup of instant ramen. I'm lucky I made it this far on that."

"Naruto you've already eaten about a weeks worth of food today alone and it's not even five o'clock."

"Well then it's time for dinner!" He grabbed her hand and before she knew it they were out of his apartment and rushing through the streets of the village.

"Can we eat something other than ramen already?" She managed to gasp out as the shops blurred by, bringing Naruto to a screeching halt.

"O-other than ramen?" He stood there stunned for a moment and thought for another moment. "How about that all you can eat barbeque place? I could really stuff myself there on just a single voucher." Naruto smiled at that thought.

"Fine then." Hinata realized that for some things she just couldn't argue with Narutos stomach. Still she smiled.

It didn't take long before they found themselves seated at a table with a grill built into it. It was the same restaurant that they joined their friends at the other night up the street from the Yamanaka flower shop. Since Naruto was using a meal voucher they had to pay first and the manager himself came out when word got out that they had an entire book of meal vouchers. Hinata ate sparingly, still amazed at Narutos voracious appetite. He on the other hand had the grill filled constantly and if anything was eating even more food this time than he had when they were here last. He actually took two trips to the bathroom much to her surprise. Hinata noticed that they were starting to get some rather irritated looks from the manager. So while her boyfriend was away from the table the second time she asked the waiter to send the manager over.

"My apologies for my boyfriends appetite." Hinata smiled, she was really beginning to like using the 'boyfriend' term. "He is recovering from recently being released from the hospital. I would imagine that having such a customer use a free meal voucher would normally be considered in poor taste but they were a gift from the Hokage herself in order to help speed his recovery. I myself am surprised at the amount of food he has been eating throughout the day."

"I'll say. I never thought I'd see anyone eat enough to challenge the appetite of an Akimichi, especially someone who wasn't as big as they are." The man replied.

Hinata bowed slightly towards the manager. "If you could not mention anything to him when he returns I would greatly appreciate it."

"Of course Hyuga-sama." The man bowed deeply in return. He had seen plenty of meal vouchers in his time, they were a common gift to the younger shinobi of the village. Although this was the first time he had ever seen anyone with an entire book of them. To also see the renowned village prankster dating a main branch Hyuga was definitely something that he found very surprising. Granted despite his infamy of pranking it had been several years since any were pulled that the manager was aware of. The manager looked at Hinata and thinking back to her words that the book had been a gift from the Hokage herself, he decided that in this particular case appeasing the young mans appetite might actually be something of an investment.

Hinata smiled as she watched the mans emotions through his facial expressions and body language. The lines his thoughts must be going actually seemed quite obvious to her "Please call me Hinata."

"As you wish Hinata-sama." The man bowed deeply to the young woman.

Hinata was surprised at the respect the man showed her and even more surprised that she had found him so easy to read, even without using the Byakugan.

Naruto returned and polished off several more plates of food before deciding to leave. Again they wandered the streets of Konoha hand in hand smiling. Naruto continued to 'top off' every hour or so, stopping at a food cart each time and bringing a smile to the vendors faces with his orders. As the sun set and the night lights were coming on across the village when Naruto surprised her once again.

"You didn't eat much at the barbeque place and you haven't had anything to eat otherwise, how about we head off to a nice restaurant and have a good meal?"

"A nice restaurant?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm sure you know some fancier places than I ever go to. It'll be something of a 'date'." The blonde shinobi smiled.

"Well there's Moritake's." Hinata said with a soft smile from the 'date' word. "I wouldn't call it a 'fancy' place but it is a very nice small café. It's pretty much Kurenai sensei's favorite. The owner is a former shinobi who lost most of his lower left leg fighting Stone."

"Alright then, off to Moritake's!" Naruto let go of her hand and took a few quick steps before looking back to Hinata with an embarrassed expression. "Umm, which way are we going?"

Hinata laughed as she ran the few steps to him and grabbed his hand again.

"This way silly." She spent the rest of the walk with a quiet and satisfied smile on her face as she led Naruto to the cafe.

Hinata was slightly irritated at the expression on Moritake-san's face when Naruto first entered the restaurant but it immediately changed when the older man saw that Hinata was with him. In fact once the retired shinobi realized that they were holding hands his eyes widened slightly but then the older man smiled softly. That smile instantly earned her forgiveness for his first reaction to the sight of Naruto. He led them to one of the back tables where they would have at least a semblance of privacy and waited on them himself.

"So Hinata-chan I take it things are going well." Moritake said while holding that soft smile as he took note of the closeness between Naruto and Hinata.

"Very well lately." Hinata beamed as she squeezed Narutos hand.

"How is Kurenai-chan doing? I heard about her husband but I haven't seen her lately, if you could forward my condolences to her I would greatly appreciate it."

"Of course." Hinata said with a touch of deep sadness. "Kurenai sensei is actually rooming with the two of us at the moment."

"The two of you?"

"Umm…" Hinata blushed slightly while stealing a quick glance to Naruto. "It's something of a long story, a very long story."

"Well I won't bother you about it now, how about I bring the two of you some tea while you decide what you'd like to eat."

"That would be nice."

Moritake left and for a moment the two sat there quietly enjoying each others company.

"Seems like a nice guy." Naruto said.

"He is. Kurenai sensei brings Team Eight here occasionally after some of our harder missions."

It didn't take long for Moritake to return with their tea and take their orders before disappearing into the kitchen. Hinata was stunned as once again Naruto ate continuously for at least an hour. Moritake eyes grew slightly wider each time he removed an empty plate and Naruto would order something else. Again Naruto disappeared for a short time to visit the bathroom and Moritake took that opportunity to talk to Hinata.

"Is he o.k.? I don't think I've ever seen someone his size eat so much. I would not have thought it even possible." The former shinobi asked.

Hinata hesitated Moritakes concern was obvious to her and very touching but his question was something she had been asking herself for much of the day.

"I am not sure." She answered after that short pause. "We were on a rough mission together recently and both of us were in the hospital for about a week because of it. He ate a lot yesterday but hardly anything compared to today. This 'meal' is actually his second of this size this evening and he has been eating on a comparable level throughout the day."

"It might be a good idea to stop back at the hospital."

"Well we do have an early morning appointment with the Hokage so she can examine him. I will be sure to mention it to her." Hinata paused to calm herself, the short conversation with Moritake had upset her much more than she expected. She hated the thought that there may be something wrong with Naruto.

Moritake had stopped talking. Most people probably wouldn't have noticed but he had seen Hinata in his restaurant often enough in the past with her emotional guards down that he could easily tell that the conversation was making her uncomfortable.

"I'm sure that he will be fine dear." He said softly.

Hinata nodded and gave the older man a small smile.

Naruto returned at that moment, smiling as always.

"Hey, Moritake-san, I think we're done. I don't want to empty the place of food, wouldn't want any of your other customers to miss out." Naruto said with a smile.

"Right away Uzumaki-san." Moritake gave Naruto a big smile and a small bow before heading off.

"Are you o.k. Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked picking up her unease.

"Oh! It's nothing Naruto, don't worry about it." She replied with a smile.

Moritake returned shortly with the bill and quickly disappeared. Naruto looked it over and dug out his gama-chan wallet and pulled out a hefty amount to cover the bill and leave a generous tip.

"No voucher?" Hinata asked with a teasing smile.

"For one of our _dates_? I don't think so Hinata-chan." Naruto managed to pull off looking extremely shocked, getting a small laugh out of Hinata.

Her laugh quickly stopped when she noticed how large the pile of money was and glancing at the bill she let out a small gasp. It was easily three times any bill she'd ever seen any of the other times she'd been there with her sensei and teammates.

"What's wrong?" Her boyfriend asked.

"That's a rather large bill Naruto." She said quietly, still somewhat shocked.

"Well I did eat a lot of food you know." His big grin was back.

"Are you o.k.?" She asked softly obviously concerned.

"Sure! I feel great. Why?"

"Like you said you ate a lot of food. You shouldn't be able to fit into your clothes right now with everything you ate today."

"Now that you mention it I guess I have been eating an awful lot today." He rubbed the back of his head. "I wouldn't worry though, like I said I feel great. I've just been hungry and when I'm hungry I eat."

"Well as long as you are feeling o.k. but we are going to talk to Tsunade about it tomorrow."

Naruto was tempted to argue but looking at Hinata he could almost feel her concern so he decided to agree with her.

"As you wish." He smiled with just a hint of mischief and gave her a small bow.

"Will you stop that, silly." She demanded softly.

"Well you are the one in control here." He continued to grin.

"That's right and don't you forget it. After all, you are much more ticklish than I am." Hinata grabbed his arm and smiled herself as they walked out of the restaurant.

"Are you sure about that Hinata-chan?"

"Yes."

"I think I'm going to have to test that."

"Maybe later." She smiled sensually.

"I…" Before he could finish his reply she suddenly stopped, causing him to stumble a bit. Before he knew what was happening she had released his arm and flowed around him in a way that left the two of them facing each other. He didn't have time to react with more than a blink at her sudden closeness before she grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down into an extremely passionate kiss.

"I…I…" he stammered out after she released him and returned to his side.

"You were saying something?" She asked sweetly with a big smile.

"Umm, I don't remember." He said with a faint blush.

"I thought so. Don't forget I can do more than simply tickle you into submission." Her sweet smile took on the faintest tint of almost evil that made Naruto wonder just what he had gotten himself into. Still he smiled.

As they walked around Hinata decided that they should work at stretching the link, something they had forgotten about. They made something of a game of this new task. They discovered that at whatever distance they began feeling the link tug at them they could double that distance before the tugging became too much for them and they would giggle as they rushed back to each other. They had spent about an hour with this when Narutos stomach rumbled slightly.

"You have got to be kidding me." Hinata said in exasperation as she rolled her eyes again. Not that many people could tell with her eyes but Naruto knew.

"I can't help it." He said bashfully but this time he began to wonder if there was something to Hinatas concerns earlier.

"It is getting rather late Naruto and we still have to spend that hour in the hot tub you know." She said with an impish smile.

Somehow she managed to nearly completely suppress the blush she felt in her cheeks that her words triggered. She still had a pink tinge to her face but considering the subject that was quite an accomplishment. Naruto stumbled slightly at her words turning pink faced himself but he shook it off as his stomach rumbled once again.

"We'll just have to stop by Ichiraku's then." He said with a large smile despite the soft sigh that came from Hinata.

Teuchi was surprised to see them again but he had no problems preparing several bowls of ramen for Naruto. Although by the eighth bowl the old man began to raise his eyebrows. Two bowls after that the man was actually looking concerned. Still despite his concern for his best customer he turned out to be a bit more savvy of a business man than the manager of the barbeque place since his rule was one voucher per bowl. This of course didn't bother Naruto at all and he polished off two more to make it an even dozen before he figured he had made his girlfriend suffer enough and with a quick farewell to Teuchi they headed off to the suite.

Kurenai looked up from a book as they entered.

"Making it a bit of a late night, aren't you two?" She asked.

"Sorry Kurenai sensei." Naruto called out as he vanished into his bathroom.

"Sensei?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Yes Hinata?" Kurenai replied suddenly concerned at her former students tone.

Hinata quickly gave her a summary of volume of food Naruto had polished off throughout the day. Kurenai actually blinked for a few moments as she absorbed the unbelievable amount of food the young man had consumed. And thought for a few moments.

"Well Hinata, normally I would call someone making such claims a liar and say that was impossible but I know you too well. I don't think we need to be concerned, in this particular case I think it is probably directly related to Naruto draining a good portion of the nine tails chakra. What you described is quite frankly physically impossible for normal people but Naruto is hardly normal. I think you are correct in telling Tsunade tomorrow but I'm sure it could wait. From the amount of food you described if it was going to be a problem, I believe something would have happened already. So it's probably nothing to worry about."

Kurenai sensed that something else was bothering Hinata though.

"Is there anything else dear?"

Hinata immediately blushed in practically a violent manner as color flooded her cheeks and instantly expanded down into her shirt. After a few moments of stammering Hinata took a deep breath and as her color shifted to normal she told Kurenai about the whole 'shirt' incident that happened in Narutos apartment. Kurenai let out a great sigh.

"Hinata first of all I wouldn't worry about it. It is a little unusual, especially for you, someone normally very reserved but considering your age, your profession and the intensity of your feelings for Naruto, I'm really not very surprised that something like that happened." Kurenai answered.

"So I'm don't have to worry about 'rushing' things then?"

Kurenai sighed again. "Hinata, please don't take this as an endorsement and please don't go pushing anything in this area but just let things happen naturally. From what you've told me you are very lucky that in this respect, you are or seem to be, the dominant person in this part of your relationship. Although knowing Naruto I doubt you are the dominant one in many other aspects of your relationship, which is actually a good thing. For this though a woman should always be the one who makes the final decision in these matters in any relationship, don't forget that. With Naruto I think its safe to say that he'll do whatever you want, whenever you want. Since he's a young man you could most likely just easily walk in on him right now and do anything you wanted to do with him."

Hinata actually squeaked and the red color flashed back, filling her face completely with red.

"Hinata! I didn't mean that you should. If anything you are better off waiting. From what I can tell, Naruto really does love you and if you wanted to you could easily make him wait several years before you do anything more than kiss.

"Several years?" Hinatas eyes grew wide.

"Yes, several years dear." Kurenai rolled her eyes. "If not even more. Although for shinobi waiting that long would be very unusual. We do tend to live short lives, so we often try to live as much as we can when we can." Kurenai finished that sentence becoming obviously distraught.

"Oh! Kurenai-sama, I am so sorry I didn't mean to…"

"Hinata, don't." Kurenai cut her off and sighed again. "It is part of the life we live, many of us do not stay in this world long enough. That is one of the big reasons exactly why shinobi tend to become sexually active at a relatively young age. The two of you almost died during that last mission, in fact it's a miracle that you didn't. Could you imagine going into the next world without experiencing what you already have with Naruto?"

Hinata grew very thoughtful for a moment and grew sad at the thought of all the time she had wasted from being afraid to approach Naruto.

"Thank you sensei." Hinata stepped forward and pulled Kurenai into a great hug. "I don't know what I would do without you."

Kurenai wrapped her arms around Hinata, thinking about Hinatas mother, she had been the closest to a mother Hinata had for too many years now. "Any time dear, anytime."

Naruto walked into the room at that moment, already dressed in his swimsuit.

"Is everything o.k.?" He asked timidly. He was more than a bit on the dense side but he knew that he was intruding on a 'woman' thing. He actually had a pretty good feel for many of those 'woman things' due to Jiraiya's habits during his training time with the Toad sage.

"Everything is fine Naruto-kun." Hinata said as she looked up and smiled.

Separating from Kurenai Hinata gave her a soft smile before disappearing into 'their' room and quickly changing into her own suit.

"It's really nothing for you to worry about Naruto, she's fine. You should start filling the tub, it is getting late and you don't want to pass out in the tub." Kurenai said softly but smiled with a knowing smile.

"What about you?" Naruto then asked.

"I'm as well as can be expected, actually being here with the two of you helps greatly but you don't have to worry about me."

Naruto nodded to Kurenai before heading off to fill the hot tub. Turning on the faucets and adjusting them so the water wasn't quite scalding he stood there musing to himself. He was distracted from his thoughts by how quickly the tub was filling up. He didn't think he had much time before he'd have to turn off the water so he turned and fully intended to grab a full box of those trail mix bars before the tub filled completely. He almost walked into Hinata as she entered the room, holding one of the very boxes he was planning on getting himself. Without saying a word she just smiled and handed him the box.

"You are the greatest Hinata-chan." Naruto said with one of his large smiles even though he was fighting internally so he wouldn't daze out because of her shimmering suit.

She simply smiled and nodded as she climbed into the tub and eased herself into the steaming water. Naruto wolfed down a full bar as he stood near the faucets and was almost finished with a second when he decided there was enough water for the two of them. Quickly finishing the second bar he put the box down near Hinata and started to climb in, practically on top of her.

"Move up to the edge of the seat, you'll love this." He said with an almost sneaky smile.

As she edge up with a slightly confused look on her face he sat on the edge of the tub behind her and slowly began to caress her arms. After a few minutes he began to knead her shoulders and began working on giving her a full back massage. Hinata leaned forward as his hands worked their way down along her spine to her lower back where he softly massaged those muscles for a few minutes before working his way back up to her shoulder blades and then back up to her shoulders. He hummed softly as he felt out the various tense spots and slowly began to work them out. Hinata moaned softly a few times as she sat there with her eyes closed. He worked his hands along her neck and ran his fingers through her hair for a moment causing a shiver to run down her spine before sliding down to caress her ears softly before returning to work on her shoulders. Oddly enough the more he worked the tense spots out of Hinatas back and shoulders the more relaxed he became himself. Every soft sound of pleasure that escaped her lips made him smile. This continued for the full hour they were supposed to stay in the tub and would have gone on even longer if Kurenai hadn't stepped in to remind them that their hour was up and they should head off to bed. She was a bit surprised to see Naruto giving Hinata a back massage, especially when she saw the glazed expression on Hinatas face.

"Where in the world did you learn how to give a massage Naruto?" Kurenai asked as she looked intently at Hinata. "A really good massage as well, judging by the look of Hinata here."

"Umm…" Naruto suddenly looked embarrassed. "Well you see during my training mission with Jiraiya we stayed at a large spa once for a couple of months. He claimed he was doing more research for those boring books of his. Some of the older women took a liking to me and they taught me how to give a decent massage. Although they did say I had a knack for it and it was really easy to teach me."

"Oh…wow." Hinata said softly as she finally broke out of her daze.

"Hmm." Kurenai mused as she thought about that. "Well I'm sure from what I know of Jiraiya it was probably a bit more than just a spa but somehow I doubt you realized that." She gave a short chuckle that confused Naruto.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Don't worry about it. Now it's almost midnight and you two should be asleep, don't forget that you have a 10:00 am appointment with Tsunade." Kurenai said as she took the still dazed Hinata and led her off to change. Naruto simply shrugged to himself before turning to pull the drain on the tub and grab the box trail mix bars. He was still shaking his head as he headed into his room to peel off his suit, dry off and change into his sleeping shorts and t-shirt. He was climbing into bed when there was a soft knock and Hinata quietly entered the room.

"Thank you Naruto-kun." She said as she went up to him, taking him into a fierce hug.

They stood together for a few minutes before she pulled back slightly and looked up into his eyes. Without saying anything they felt drawn together and found themselves kissing each other softly. They continued to kiss tenderly for a few moments before a soft wave of dizziness flowed through Naruto.

"I think we have to stop." He said softly as his knees buckled slightly.

"Are you o.k.?" Hinata asked suddenly concerned.

"Yeah, I just got really, really tired all of the sudden." He answered as he moved over and sat on the bed.

Hinata watched him intently as his eyes drooped and he pulled back the covers and lay down. He didn't even pull the covers back on as he quickly passed into unconsciousness and faded into an extremely deep sleep. Hinata began to get very worried and she walked up to him and put her hand on his chest to feel his heart beat. Her own heart fluttered for a moment as her face flushed slightly from the sensual overtones of touching him like that. Feeling his steady heart beat quickly calmed and reassured her though. With a soft smile she climbed into the bed next to him. As she settled in he turned slightly to lay on his side, moving his arm over to take her into a soft embrace. She let out a soft sigh as she turned to her side as well and pushed her shoulder blades up against his chest. For a few minutes she simply lay there softly caressing his arm while smiling as she thought about the day they had. Her cheeks suddenly flushed and she softly spoke.

"Naruto?"

Nothing.

"Naruto?" she said again, giving him a slight nudge this time.

Again nothing. She gave a small 'hmmphf' of frustration, shaking her head slightly as she rolled her eyes.

'_Oh well it can wait.'_ she thought to herself as she finally began to feel the tug of tiredness pull her towards sleep.

Within a few minutes she was deeply asleep as well. Kurenai stayed up for a bit more than two more hours before she pulled herself off the couch and quietly looked in on her two younger charges. Seeing the two of them cuddled up together caused her to smile. She caressed her own stomach for a moment feeling the small life growing within her as a small tear formed in one of her eyes. Shaking her head a bit she quietly went into the other room and was shortly asleep herself.

---ooo---

The next morning Hinata was the first to wake up. She gently separated herself from Narutos embrace and silently went into the common area. Find herself alone she was at something of a loss for what to do next. She didn't want to risk waking Kurenai, she suspected that the poor woman hadn't been sleeping well lately and she didn't want to disturb what sleep her sensei was getting. She also didn't want to start breakfast while Naruto was sleeping. Although she felt that the smells of cooking food were likely to wake him he seemed to really enjoy watching her cook and she wasn't ready to give that up just yet. She decided to go through a light morning work out of some stretching and taijutsu forms. After about a half hour she glanced at the clock and realized it was closing in on 9:00 am. The past few days Naruto had been waking up around 7:00 and after his strange eating binge yesterday Hinata was a bit worried. Silently she went back into their room and found Naruto still fast asleep. She went up to the edge of the bed and softly spoke.

"Naruto."

Much like last night there was no reaction.

"Naruto!" She raised her voice, still nothing.

"Naruto the ramen is ready." She almost jumped back, expecting him to leap from the bed at the word ramen but still there was no reaction. That almost evil grin flashed across her face and she leaned down again.

"Sex." She whispered with a slight giggle.

She was disappointed, although that word did do bit better than her other attempts it still wasn't much. That comment only got her a slight twitch.

"I'm thinking **bad** thoughts Naruto." She whispered in his ear.

"mmm." Was the only response, causing her to frown.

"I'm thinking _good_ thoughts Naruto." Again with she whispered in his ear.

"hmmmm, Hina-chan." He mumbled but didn't wake.

That caused her to smile but he still didn't wake up. She lightly touched his chest and felt his heart beating slowly and steadily. His breathing was relaxed and she knew that he was still in a very deep sleep. Turning she walked back out into the common area with a frown. Luckily for her she found Kurenai walking out of the other room they were using.

"Oh, Kurenai sensei, I can't wake Naruto up!" She exclaimed obviously distressed.

"Relax Hinata, it's probably related to all that food he ate yesterday." Kurenai glanced at the clock on the wall. "Something tells me he's going to miss his morning appointment with Tsunade though. Why don't you take a quick shower and get dressed while I have a message sent to Tsunade."

"O.K." Hinata looked disappointed but she quickly disappeared.

Kurenai went over to the door and pulled a cord off that was hanging off to the side of the door. Moments later there was a soft knocking and a young genin appeared. Kurenai gave the young ninja a note and told him to get it to Tsunade as quickly as possible.

Nearly a half hour passed. Hinata showered and dressed yet there was no change in Naruto. Kurenai and Hinata then fixed themselves a light breakfast, although Hinata grilled up a hefty amount of fish. Cooking actually made Hinata more anxious since the smell of cooking food didn't wake Naruto. As they were cleaning up there was a loud knocking on the door and Hinata rushed to open it, to reveal Tsunade herself standing there along with Shino who was carrying another rack of a half dozen kikai containers. Tsunade merely nodded to Kurenai and Hinata before heading directly to the sleeping Naruto. Everyones eyes grew wide as they heard her begin yelling at him so loudly that it was almost painful to them outside the room as they stood in the common area. Hinata gasped as the sound of a loud smack suddenly erupted out of the bedroom and she rushed into the room to see Tsunade holding the still sleeping Naruto up in the air with one hand while she shook her other hand. Hinata noticed a bright red hand print on Narutos cheek.

"Tsunade-sama!" Hinata suddenly glared at the Hokage. "Put him down! I'm not going to let you break my boyfriend after I finally got him!"

Tsunade's eyes grew wide as she looked to the defiant Hinata. She was completely stunned that the young woman would stand up to her so readily. Until she remembered that Hinata had stood up to the demon fox and as powerful as a Hokage is, they really don't compare to the intimidation of the nine tailed fox.

"I'm sorry dear. I guess I'm a little too accustomed to smacking him around." Tsunade bowed slightly to Hinata and chuckled softly as she gently lowered Naruto back into the bed.

Kurenai and Shino were crowding behind Hinata in the doorway and both were standing there open mouthed, completely shocked at Hinata standing up to Tsunade like that.

"So you haven't been able to get any reaction at all out of him?" Tsunade asked.

"Not even the smell of cooking food did anything. I guess he managed to finally fill himself up yesterday with that ridiculous amount of food he ate and now he's simply sleeping it off." Kurenai answered as she and Shino fully entered the room.

"That's not completely true, I did get a small reaction earlier." Hinata said quietly with a soft blush.

"Hmmm, we'll get back to that in a minute dear." Tsunade said to Hinata before turning to Kurenai. "What do you mean about a ridiculous amount of food?"

"Actually Hinata would be a better person to answer." Kurenai replied.

The three turned to Hinata. The young kunochi sighed and went over all the food that Naruto had eaten yesterday. Kurenai simply stood there shaking her head slightly while Shino was obviously very stunned judging by how far above his sunglasses his eyebrows rose.

"That does not sound possible Hinata." He replied softly as he glanced at Naruto and then back to his team mate. "Although this is Naruto."

"That shouldn't even be remotely possible, he should have exploded or something equally drastic if he really ate all that much food." Tsunade said with her eyes wide while looking at the sleeping ninja. Shino is right though this is Naruto and we should probably just add 'impossible' to his name. O.K. now you said that you got a small reaction earlier, tell me about that."

Hinatas eyes grew wide, her cheeks flushed bright red as her eyes darted from Shino, to Kurenai, to Tsunade and finally back to Shino.

"I-I…uh…NotwithShinointheroom!" She finally squeaked out in a burst as she tightly closed her eyes.

Shino's shock was readily visible as his eyebrows again rose back above his sunglasses. He raised his hands up palms forward and shook his head slightly.

"I don't want to know." He said, although he was grinning as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

Hinata let out a sigh of relief as the door closed. That relief didn't last long as she looked back to the now waiting Tsunade. The young woman sighed again, this time in resignation before she repeated everything she said to Naruto earlier to Tsunade and Kurenai. Hinata then stood there staring intently at the floor as she pushed her two index fingers together.

"I don't understand. While I'm sure her words would certainly be very arousing under normal circumstances they shouldn't be any more likely to wake him up from this state than my smacking him." Tsunade looked thoughtfully at Naruto before looking back to Hinata. "You two haven't had sex yet have you?" She glared at the now furiously blushing Hinata.

"NO! We haven't!" Hinata managed to gasp out as her head began to swim and she started to worry that this conversation might cause her to faint.

"Well good, its far too early for you to be having sex or even thinking along those lines. Even if you are thinking about it, you had better not act on those thoughts!" Tsunade looked at Hinata sternly. "So what is the deal with the whole 'good thoughts', 'bad thoughts' thing then?" Tsunade mused, as she looked at Naruto.

It was now Kurenai's turn to look sternly at Hinata. "Tell her Hinata."

Again Hinata sighed in resignation as Tsunade looked back to her. After a brief hesitation so she could gather her courage, Hinata told Tsunade every detail and every word uttered when she had pulled off her shirt in front of Naruto. Tsunade smirked and rolled her eyes before chuckling softly. There was a sudden evil glint to her eyes. She almost felt bad regarding Hinata with what she was about to put the poor girl through but this was too good of an opportunity to pull a really good prank on Naruto. She reached over and lifted Naruto up into a sitting position and quickly pulled his shirt off, causing Hinata to gasp and blush as the young woman's eyes darted to the floor. Tsunade softly laughed as she glanced back at the embarrassed Hinata before lowering Naruto so he was lying on his back again. The young woman was about to learn what embarrassed really meant. Tsunade gave Naruto one more intent look, her hand print was almost completely faded already and he still showed absolutely no sign of waking up.

"O.K. Hinata dear, off with your shirt."

"WHAT!" Both Hinata and Kurenai spoke out in unison.

"Doctors orders now take it off, he's already seen you without a shirt, pretty much twice now." Tsunade was definitely grinning in a rather evil fashion.

Hinatas eyes looked as large as saucers as the red color completely filled her face. Tsunade looked at her very sternly and once again Hinata sighed in resignation.

"Hurry up now, I don't have all day and if I take it off for you, it's likely you won't be able to wear it ever again."

Hinata resigned herself to her fate and with a small amount of shaking she slowly pulled her shirt off, leaving her standing there wearing a soft blue front clasp bra that like her other two was again primarily soft lace except for the sheer translucent cups.

"So you really do blush down to your tummy." Tsunade said with that damn smile of hers that Hinata was beginning to really dislike.

"Don't you think this is a little much Tsunade-sama?" Kurenai asked.

"Are you kidding? We're just getting started. Hinata can you do a sexy voice?" Tsunade spoke causing Hinata to quiver in fear.

"Y-y-yes." The poor young woman stammered.

"Hold on a second, while we're here." Tsunade said.

Tsunade gathered her chakra and reached out to Hinatas near invisible scar with one hand while she took Hinatas shirt away with her other hand. Using her medical jutsu skills she probed the wound made by that javelin that now seemed like it had happened years ago. Gently grabbing Hinatas shoulder Tsunade softly turned her around and began to examine her back as well. Shifting her chakra slightly she ran her hand up along Hinatas spine and gave the shivering kunochi something of an odd push with her medical jutsu. Hinatas red color instantly vanished while she found that she felt nicely relaxed and could now even breath easily.

"Very good Hinata, it's almost as if the wound isn't there, it has healed so well." Tsunade studied the young women and glanced to Naruto. "This isn't quite right yet. O.k. Hinata I want you to sit on top of Naruto and whisper that whole 'bad thoughts', 'good thoughts' bit into his ear using your best sexy voice."

Hinata let out a small squeak and looked ready to bolt out of the room. Possibly the only thing that stopped her was the idea of running past Shino wearing only her bra as a top and that she'd have to get past Tsunade to get to the bathroom. A tremendous battle raged in her head for a brief moment before her inhibitions suddenly vanished much like they had yesterday when she pulled her shirt off. Her mild shaking stopped, with a deep breath she steeled herself and climbed on top of Naruto to sit on his stomach. Tsunade rolled her eyes and focusing her medical jutsu in a way never taught in any medical class she softly touched a few points on Hinatas neck, back and stomach. Giving the young women a push back so she was sitting very red faced again, directly over Narutos shorts Tsunade focused her chakra one last time, touched a spot on the young kunochi's neck and Hinatas nipples suddenly became very erect, although somehow she didn't realize that.

"Go ahead dear whisper in his ear."

Hinatas normally suppressed sultry vixen mentality completely took over and with a tender smile she leaned over and with a bit of inspiration she first softly blew and then tenderly nibbled on his ear. While her erect nipples brushed softly against his chest through the sheer material of her bra she began to whisper to Naruto about her 'bad' and 'good' thoughts. Now it was Narutos turn to quiver and ever so softly she heard his voice call out in a barely audible whisper.

"Hinata-chan." Yet he still didn't actually wake up.

"Kiss him dear." Tsunade said softly and Hinata moved her lips over to his mouth and first pulled on his lower lip with her teeth. Naruto finally reacted in a few ways. His mouth started to respond and he began to kiss her back. His arms reached up to her waist and even though he wasn't awake he began to softly caress her sides with his finger tips, from her hips to her lower ribs. Finally there was one last reaction between his legs that shocked Hinata completely. With a rather loud squeak Hinatas inhibitions came crashing back and she become quite horrified at what she had just done in front of two people. She seemed to disappear, becoming a blurred afterimage as she leaped completely off the bed, grabbed her shirt from Tsunade's grasp and vanished into the bathroom. The door slammed shut before either Tsunade or Kurenai could react. Kurenai shook her head while Tsunade laughed.

Naruto shook for a moment before his eyes slowly opened part way.

"Tsunade? Kurenai?" He said in a ragged voice as he blinked several times and yawned. "What are you two doing here? I thought…Hinata?" Again he yawned.

"Naruto?" Hinatas quiet voice was heard as the bathroom door opened a crack.

"Hinata-chan?" Narutos eyes actually opened a little more. "I was just dreaming about you." Narutos cheeks suddenly colored as his half closed eyes darted from the slightly blushing Kurenai to the smirking Tsunade.

Hinata slowly came back into the room, wearing her shirt of course and oddly there was no trace of red on her skin. As she walked up to the other two women she glared at Tsunade who was trying hard not to laugh while Kurenai simply shook her head almost sadly at the whole situation.

"Well Hinata, now you know that you've _really_ got something to look forward to." Tsunade said as she pointed to the bulge in Narutos shorts that had caused Hinatas flight into the bathroom.

Hinata squeaked again as she spun in place, so her back was to Naruto, color once again flashing back into her cheeks. Once again she found herself staring at the floor intently. This time though she was actually feeling far more irritated than embarrassed and she was feeling very embarrassed.

"You are a bad woman." Hinata finally said softly as she turned to glare at Tsunade.

"You don't know the half of it dear." Tsunade said with a smile as she dangled a small camera that had been hidden in her hand, causing Hinata to gasp.

"Hey did I miss breakfast?" Naruto said groggily as he squinted at the clock. He was almost completely oblivious to what was going on between Hinata and Tsunade. "Did I miss something?" He said as he blinked several times.

"You are a **very** bad woman!" Hinata exclaimed giving the village leader one last intense glare before walking over to Naruto, grabbing his shirt and dragging him from the bed. "Come on Naruto, I'll make you some breakfast." With a final glare to the giggling Tsunade she dragged the stumbling Naruto out of the bedroom.

"I can't believe you just did that. I think you're more perverted than Jiraiya and Kakashi now." Kurenai said while shaking her head sadly. She never thought Tsunade would have ever pulled something like this.

"Hey! I'm nothing like those two. This isn't perversion, its insurance." Tsunade laughed as she made the camera swing a bit. "Well maybe just a bit of revenge on Naruto as well."

"Something tells me that you are going to regret getting Hinata involved if this is part of that little prank war you have been having with Naruto." Kurenai looked very thoughtful.

"Hinata? Ha! I can handle her, she can't be worse than Jiraiya." Tsunade continued to laugh.

"If you say so." Kurenai answered.

She was still trying to mentally wrap her mind around this whole incident. She never imagined that Tsunade had such a perverse streak in her or that she would use it against two young people, even if one of them was Naruto. It certainly was not behavior that a Hokage should ever indulge in. She also knew that Tsunade was seriously underestimating Hinata but her loyalty to her former genin prevented her from giving Tsunade any more of a warning than she had already given the village leader. Kurenai was absolutely certain that Tsunade was going to very much regret opening this particular door for Hinata.

"For someone who keeps telling them not to have sex though, you certainly seem to be pushing them towards experimenting with it." Kurenai said.

"Nothing to worry about." Tsunade shrugged off Kurenai's concerns. "Hinata won't be able to even hold his hand now, without completely freezing up. I'd say that'll slow them down for at least a month, if not more, after that little performance."

"I don't know about that." Kurenai replied shaking her head as she turned and left the room.

Tsunade chuckled one last time as she made the camera vanish and then followed Kurenai.

Kurenai chuckled as they walked into the kitchen/eating area. Hinata had a pot simmering on the stove and was sitting next to Naruto, almost literally wrapped around his left arm with the fingers of her right hand intertwined with those on his left hand while her left hand softly covered their two interlocked hands. Naruto was practically attacking a pile of grilled fish that Hinata had cooked earlier in hopes the smell would wake him. The pair of chopsticks in his right hand were little more than a blur as the pile of fish steadily shrank.

"Won't even be able to hold his hand?" Kurenai said with a smirk as she looked back to Tsunade.

Tsunade stumbled as her face turned pale and her eyes grew wide. She suddenly knew that she had made a mistake, possibly a very serious mistake. Hinata turned and gave Tsunade a harsh and somehow calculating glare before the young women turned her attention back to Naruto. Tsunade actually swallowed hard as the realization washed over her that she had likely made more than one mistake with Hinata.

Shino was sitting off to the side a bit, quietly watching everyone. He had no idea what had happened in the other room but seeing the interplay between the three women he found the implications quite surprising and more than a little unnerving. Most disturbing was the idea that Hinata seemed to have actually intimidated the Hokage just now. Shino had known for many years that Hinata was far stronger than anyone, even herself ever gave her credit for but this was beyond anything he ever imagined. A small hidden smile played across his lips for a moment. Although he didn't care for some of Narutos characteristics he was happy to see that the hyperactive shinobi was having such a positive effect on his team mate.

Tsunade steeled herself and shook off the sudden cold feeling that seemed to pervade the suite.

"Lets get a look at you Naruto." She stated, slipping back into the comfortable territory of true medical jutsu.

Naruto polished off the last fish and separating from Hinata he walked over to Tsunade, with his eyes still only half open.

"Well you don't seem to be truly exhausted, even if you are acting that way. I hear you ate quite a lot of food yesterday." Tsunade said as she began to examine Naruto with her medical jutsu.

"I wasn't really keeping track, I just always felt hungry so I just kept eating." He replied.

"There isn't any sign of any sort of damage." Tsunade paused and looked puzzled. "That's odd, your chakra levels are completely back to your baseline, if not slightly higher. I didn't expect that to happen for at least a week, if not two."

"So does that mean we can start training?" Naruto perked up slightly as he grew hopeful and finally seemed to completely wake up.

"No, not yet." Tsunade looked thoughtful as she probed further. "Shino could you set some of your colony on Naruto and have them drain a bit of his chakra."

"Of course Tsunade-sama." Shino said softly as he rose from his seat and glided to Naruto.

A small cloud of kikai began to build up around him. The mass of bugs flew over as they landed on Naruto they began to feed on his chakra. Naruto signed in resignation as he held his arms out.

"Hey Shino, I thought you said it'd be months before you have them nibble on me." Naruto said with a grimace as more and more kikai began to land on him and join their siblings in the chakra feast.

"That was for the new breed of kikai we are attempting to develop, these are regular kikai and it is the Hokages orders after all." Shino was obviously enjoying Narutos discomfort.

Several minutes passed and a few of the kikai actually left Naruto on their own. Shinos eyebrows appeared above his head at that and he commanded the remaining kikai that were still on Naruto to return.

"That seemed a little on the short side Shino." Tsunade said.

"Not really Godaime Hokage-sama. The kikai drained enough chakra to knock out a typical chuunin just now and I'd rather not have them gorge themselves, they tend to get sluggish."

Tsunade hummed softly to herself as she stepped back to examine Naruto again. Her expression became very puzzled as she 'looked' even deeper into Naruto.

"Hinata dear, could you use your Byakugan to examine Narutos chakra system for me?"

"Of course." Hinata replied coolly.

Hinata let out a soft gasp as she looked over Narutos chakra system. It was practically overfilling with chakra. She had seen Shinos kikai in action many times in the past and even though he used less than a quarter of his primary colony there should have been a noticeable depletion to Narutos chakra. If anything she would have sworn that what she saw now in her boyfriend was even more chakra than he normally had.

"I do not understand." She said quietly. "Its like Shinos kikai did nothing. If anything he has more chakra now than I've ever noticed before."

"Well I guess that explains why you ate all that food. I would say that the damn fox is completely replenished or near enough not to matter. I guess you can start some light training today after all." Tsunade said before scowling at the excited expression on Narutos face. "I mean it Naruto **light** training only, nothing chakra intensive at all, that means none of your jounin level jutsu. So no shadow clones, no summoning jutsus, no Rasengan of any sort, especially the fuuton variants, no nature manipulation at all in fact. I don't even want you doing anything more than light taijutsu either. I won't give you a full clearance until I examine you at least one more time. So stop by my office tomorrow at 10:00 am. Shino I expect that you can finish up here without me, correct?"

"Of course Hokage-sama." Shino replied with a bow.

"Well then I'm off." Tsunade gave Hinata an almost nervous glance and felt unnerved by the cold expression on the young womans face. With a quick wave Tsunade vanished out the front door.

"So shall we continue with the kikai then?" Shino asked with a hidden but still obvious smile that amused Kurenai and Hinata greatly as he retrieved the six boxes from one of the tables.

Naruto felt a slight shudder as he thought of more bugs crawling on him but still he smiled, he knew for sure that he would be getting back to some serious training tomorrow. Ignoring Shino and the kikai completely, he thought about what training he could do today with Tsunade's restrictions. After a few moments he smiled, this would actually be a very big plus for him he concluded as he stole a glance to Hinata. He became puzzled as his attention earned a soft blush from his girlfriend. He quickly shrugged that off though, he had training to plan!

A/N – follow up

O.k. good news/bad news. I've got about 4,000 words already written for the next chapter, mostly Naruto facing Neji and Hinata facing Hanabi so far in the assessment fights, that's the good news. The bad news is Paintball will be taking over my life again over the next month or so. I'm flying out to Salt Lake City Friday morning and won't be back home until Monday night. After that event is wrapped up I believe my wife and I are booked every weekend except one until August. I'm just about recovered from OK D-Day and its looking like one thing after another for a while yet so I have no idea when I'll be able to get any more work done on this story. I have it stored on a flash drive and we'll have the laptop with us at all these events so with a bit of luck I'll get something done.

T.J.


	15. Chapter 15 training & 1st assement

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is the Manga books from 1 to 3 and then from 9 to 15 along with the first three uncut DVD box sets.

From chapter 14 Moritake's café is owned by Matthew Schocke aka S'TarKan and again I thank him for letting me use it, I'm hoping to use it again in the future. I'd also like to give my appreciation to Matthew for being someone around my own age, some of the other authors here on Fanfiction dot net make me feel old hahaha.

Thanks again to everyone who has submitted reviews and messages.

Finally, I've been meaning to say this for a long time now, Thank you to Masashi Kishimoto for creating such great characters. I've never been able to work so easily with fanfiction before

Sorry this has been taking so long (and that this A/N is long), next one might take longer, the next several days will be spent gearing up to head out to the largest paintball event on the East Coast. Gotta a lot of stuff to take care of for that one. I'm not sure what other paintball stuff comes after that, my wife may have canceled our going to the event after ION that was on our schedule. I feel that I rushed through the training week and my apologies for that. Although there were some things I simply don't want to reveal until the assessment fights.

Now, back to the action. Hopefully in my rush to post this chapter I didn't make any really bad mistakes.

**Ch. 15**

Naruto shuddered one last time as Shino left with the additional Kikai and a hefty amount of notes. He glanced over to the still grinning Kurenai and Hinata and despite their smiles he felt that Kurenai especially and Hinata to a smaller degree were still a little unsettled by the earlier sight of the Kikai covered Naruto. Luckily Shino cut off further work with the Kikai before Naruto got too irritated over losing precious training time. With a grin Naruto grabbed Hinatas hand and with a quick farewell to Kurenai he rushed out of the suite, dragging Hinata along.

It didn't seem to take long before the two were in the training area Naruto had been working in lately with Kakashi and Yamato.

"So, how are you at creating shadow clones?" Naruto asked Hinata with a smile.

Hinata looked at him slightly confused for a moment. There was an odd overtone to his smile she hadn't seen before. It was somehow calculating.

"You know that is a restricted jutsu." She calmly answered as she hid that she was studying him intently.

"So?"

"So, I've never actually used Kage Bunshin, just the regular Bunshin No Jutsu." She replied and then suddenly blushed slightly. "I have read about it though. Despite being a restricted jutsu there are a number of jounin who use it to one degree or another. I don't believe there are any chuunin who do and from what I've gathered you are the only person who ever regularly used it as a genin. In fact I believe that Konohamaru is the only other genin to use it at all but he only uses it occasionally. I'm also pretty sure, from the stuff I've read and from talking to a few people, you are the only person who has ever used Tajuu Kage Bunshin on a regular basis."

"Read about it? Why?"

"Because you use it silly." Hinatas blush deepened slightly.

"I wouldn't think you'd be able to read about it since it was a restricted jutsu though."

"The Hyuga family library has some extensive notes about the Kage Bunshin technique because the Byakugan can't usually see through it."

"That didn't help Neji." Naruto said with a grin.

"No, although he did go through the Hyuga library rather extensively, regarding the Kage Bunshin after he lost that battle to you."

"Well I doubt it'll help him this time." Naruto said as his grin became very self assured.

"Naruto…" Hinata hesitated and looked down. "Did you mean it when you told my father and the Hyuga elder that I was the only Hyuga you would worry about fighting?"

"Of course I did. Especially after really seeing you in action again. That Shugohakke of yours would be a tough nut to crack." Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment. "A lot really depends on your chakra reserves. From what I saw you can dial down your chakra and build it up again nearly instantly while using your Shugohakke. So I would have a hard time wearing you down with most of my attacks, well the ones I'm allowed to use anyway. That's if I could at all, you might even be able to deflect the Rasen-Shuriken too but I'd rather not test that. I think it's safe to say that even without the damn fox, I've got a ridiculous amount of chakra. Without tapping into the fox's chakra I think I'd use up my chakra faster with my attacks than you would use up your chakra with your defense. If you only used the Kaiten or the regular juken strikes I'm pretty sure I could beat you, even though I think you're a bit faster than I usually am. Seriously though I wasn't kidding when I said the only way I **might** be able to beat your Shugohakke would be to overload it with a thousand or more clones."

Hinata blinked for a few moments. She had only glimpsed at this aspect of Naruto a few times in the past. He had obviously been thinking about the Hyuga fighting style for some time. Something many considered the most formidable family jutsu in Konoha. She still had no idea what counters he had thought up but as she listened she could tell he certainly had something.

"Thank you Naruto." She paused for another brief moment as she digested everything he said. "What makes you think I can use the Kaiten anyway?"

"You can't?" Naruto seemed somewhat stunned. "I was sure that you would have mastered it by now."

"Actually I have but I don't understand how you would know that. We haven't talked about it and I didn't use it on our mission."

"Well with the two of us fighting together I didn't think you could use it then, especially when your Shugohakke was much more suitable to our fighting together. I just figured that you would have learned it by now. You seemed very determined and it is supposed to be the ultimate Hyuga technique. It just made sense that you would have learned it by now." Naruto smiled sheepishly while she looked thoughtful.

"So what are we going to work on then?" She asked, knowing that would distract him a bit and give her some time to think about everything that he had said. As much as she appreciated his praise she was still unaccustomed to hearing such words directed to her.

"I'd like to see you use the Kage Bunshin technique and see if we can get you up to at least a hundred clones if you can tap into my chakra for it."

Hinatas face paled, so much for a little time for her thoughts. Her own chakra reserves had been developing quite nicely the past few years. In fact she had more chakra than many jounin, pretty much every Hyuga did and on that scale she didn't think that she was all that impressive. Still she didn't think that she liked were Narutos thoughts were headed.

"Naruto, Tsunade said no chakra intensive training." She said sternly.

"Oh, I know, I figured that we'd really use it tomorrow. I just want to make sure you could create a Kage Bunshin today. We'll worry about you making a lot of them later. Besides I've got one really good technique that should counter the Hyuga Byakugan that uses hardly any chakra at all." Naruto grinned wildly as Hinata began to feel somewhat uneasy.

"Maybe we should work on that a little then and leave the Kage Bunshin for later." She said as her curiosity and unease grew.

Naruto smiled at Hinata in a way that made her swallow. There was something about that smile that she just knew he had something good up his sleeve, something that probably wasn't going to be good for the Hyuga clan.

"Alright watch closely." Naruto said as his smile took on that feral cast he used when he was really enjoying something related to his fighting skills.

Hinata activated her Byakugan and stared intently at Narutos chakra system. As Naruto concentrated she let out a gasp.

"Tha-That's impossible!" She suddenly exclaimed as she deactivated her Byakugan and looked at Naruto in shock.

Naruto smiled at the look of confusion on his girlfriends face.

"Man, I can hardly wait to see the look on the rest of your clans faces when I pull that one on them." Naruto grinned wildly. "So Hinata-chan do you want to continue with this or do you want to try working on the Kage Bunshin."

Hinata shook her head and rubbed her eyes.

"I guess we'll go back to the Kage Bunshin." She sighed. "You will explain that to me though." She gave him her stern look again, even though what she had just seen had unsettled her a great deal. She thought about his words earlier and how she knew he had thought about the Hyuga fighting techniques a great deal. After seeing just one of his counters, she had all her years of believing in him confirmed and now she knew that somehow, possibly on an instinctive level, he was a rather gifted tactician along with many of his other qualities she admired. Trust Naruto to come up with something that simply should not have been possible or at least something nobody would have ever thought to even attempt. The fact that it was something that would only work against a Hyuga was also very interesting. Naruto couldn't tolerate losing to anyone and he hated to depend on the damn fox. Nearly losing that fight with Neji had focused those two driving forces within him had produced something that she knew was going to simply horrify the Hyuga elder and probably her father as well. Hinata smiled.

Naruto gave her a brief explanation to the bizarre technique she had just witnessed. As the slight ache in her eyes faded her smile got slightly wider. Her father and the Hyuga elder had no idea what they were in for. They spent much of the next hour or so with Naruto explaining what he could about the Kage Bunshin and the Tajuu version of his favorite technique. Naruto really wasn't very good at properly explaining a jutsu to someone else. Luckily between her reading and all the times she had witnessed it before Hinata felt she could pull it off. Naruto also showed her how he built up his chakra for the Kage Bunshin without actually releasing the jutsu. Between her Byakugan and her attachment to him, she was quite possibly the best possible student he could possibly have, at least if he wanted to actually teach something. Hinata figured that she knew enough to pull this off now. She stood up and forming the proper seal she concentrated and her chakra formed exactly the way it should on the first try. She called out, releasing the jutsu causing a shimmer in the air that quickly took her own form. Naruto grinned from ear to ear as he looked up at two Hinatas. Her clone was absolutely perfect.

"That's fantastic Hinata!" He yelled out as he jumped up. "We are so going to kick their asses, you are the best!"

Both Hinata and her clone suddenly blushed. Narutos eyes widened at the pink color to her cheeks that distracted him, causing his own cheeks to color slightly. It was Hinatas turn to be distracted and her own eyes widened as she began to suspect where his thoughts just went.

"Don't even think about it." She said softly with a small grin as she rolled her eyes and dissipated her clone.

"Whatever you say dear." He laughed softly and they stood there slightly uneasy for a moment despite the fact that they both secretly enjoyed entertaining 'possibilities' in their thoughts.

They spent the next several hours or so working on her clone jutsu. She seemed to be able to maintain one clone for about a half hour. She didn't seem to be able to generate more than eight but they both felt that was more of some sort of mental barrier than a chakra level issue. Also the amount of time she could maintain them dropped off quickly the more clones she generated. A few hours later when working with eight she was only able to keep them going for about a minutes before she started to feel tired.

When she felt some of Narutos chakra flow through their link while she was trying to push for more time with eight clones she decided that they were finished for the day. Dispelling those last four clones she noticed there was a slight tremble to her hands.

"We are finished for today." She quietly informed him.

Naruto looked like he was about to argue but he had felt his chakra flow through the link just as she had and when he noticed the slight tremble to her hands he instantly agreed with her.

"I guess this explains why so many people have been surprised at my Kage Bunshin over the years." He grinned sheepishly.

One more evening relaxing suddenly didn't seem to be a bad idea to him as he intently watched the slight tremble of Hinatas hand before it faded away and her movements recaptured their subtle grace that he was often captivated by these days. They quickly left the training area and headed back to the village proper. This time though instead of wandering aimlessly through Konoha, Hinata led them to one of the food markets.

"I think that we'll be eating in tonight." She mused as she grabbed a hand basket and started browsing the aisles picking various items while Naruto followed completely entranced. Many aspects of preparing a meal more complicated than instant ramen were still something of a mystery to him. For some reason he found that watching her browse and choose different foods to be very captivating and oddly relaxing.

They shortly found themselves back at the suite. Naruto sat back and watched as Hinata prepared a late lunch. He suddenly realized that he hadn't eaten anything since the grilled fish breakfast earlier that morning and he hadn't felt hungry until just now when he noticed the aroma of Hinatas cooking. He breathed a soft sigh of relief, if he had continued to eat the way he had the previous day he would have been a very broke shinobi in short order.

"I don't think we'll need any more training for today." Naruto said as he sat down. "I'd like to find sensei Yamato though so we can really push things."

"Naruto." Hinata said with a warning tone and a soft glare.

"Although, I guess we could just maintain a slower pace for the first day or so." He laughed softly.

The next few days were a blur to Hinata. She took a slightly guilty joy in their meeting with Tsunade the day after Naruto taught her the Kage Bunshin. Although the Hokage put up a good front Hinata could tell that her mere presence in Tsunades office was making the village leader uncomfortable. Tsunade gave them clearance to go all out on their training and from that point on the days began to blur. Hinata was surprised at just how effective working with shadow clones was. Although there was simply no way she could have ever done as much on her own and she was continuously surprised at the sheer amount of chakra she was pulling from Naruto to maintain her own clones. The first day they spent worked for over ten hours together, each with a hundred clones. About the only thing more disconcerting than gaining over three months of training inside of a single day was seeing her boyfriend complain that they couldn't push things even further. She suspected that much of his obvious maturing was related to this training technique that Kakashi had thought up for Naruto and she was more than a little concerned about what it might be doing to her. Still she would often smile at some of his antics, despite his maturing in many ways he was still Naruto.

She was amazed at just how far Naruto would push things. The second day was no ten hour push over like the first. Naruto liked to work in five hour shifts with hour breaks to eat. So they woke up at six ate breakfast and were training by 7:00 am. They broke for lunch at 12:00 and were back to training by 1:00. Breaking for dinner at 6:00 Naruto insisted to head out again for more training after dinner and they didn't get back to the suite until after midnight, completely exhausted. Kurenai looked concerned and tried to talk them into taking things a little easier but Naruto simply couldn't do that. They skipped spending any time in the hot tub from that night on and simply collapsed into a deep but short sleep after eating a quick meal.

Hinata and Kurenai were both amazed that not only was Naruto back up again at 6:00 and was bouncing around but that Hinata was as well. She had been on a few missions with him years ago and he had always been quick to fall asleep and slow to wake up. Now he was driven and that drive had seriously changed his old sleeping habits. One thing that she did worry about was that her enjoyment of ramen seemed to be increasing.

He had them double the number of clones they were working with from a hundred each that first day to two hundred for the second and then to four hundred the third day. Hinata was a bit surprised that Naruto would go no further, until he explained that he usually worked with at least a thousand clones or more and sometimes one would 'go Kyuubi' when he really pushed things. Without Yamato to act as a safety he refused to go over four hundred clones each. He figured that even though they were doing some very chakra intensive stuff, none of was anywhere near as taxing as developing the Fuuton Rasengan had been. Actually in that regard the link between them helped immensely. Anytime Hinata felt any of the Kyuubi chakra start to leak through the link she would slow things down or call for a quick but short break. Naruto never argued with her about that.

For a few things Naruto attempted to run eight to one against Hinata. It was quite a sight if anyone had come across them to see a hundred Hinatas face off against eight hundred Narutos. Unfortunately when they did that it didn't take long at all for the Kyuubi chakra to begin to seep through the link and they quickly cut it down to seventy five of her against six hundred of him. Naruto was still a little concerned after a few bouts using those numbers even though there was no sign of the demon fox's chakra. He was starting to see some real results though and pulled them back a bit so it was 'only' fifty of her against four hundred of him. Even there though, they only spent a single five hour stretch each day with the off sided numbers favoring him. Although there was one time when just for the hell of it they tried one thousand Narutos against just Hinata and her Shugohakke. Hinata was slightly embarrassed that she actually won that match, especially since Naruto immediately got up and exclaimed that he had the greatest girlfriend in the world while brushing himself off. Hinatas blush lasted a bit longer than normal after that one.

Naruto would often grill her during their meal breaks about the Hyuga family juken strikes. Hinata was rather stunned at some of his ideas regarding her family jutsu and they immediately began to try some of those ideas and for a couple of days it was just Naruto with no clones while eight hundred Hinatas would attempt some of his ideas. While many of his ideas didn't work a few had enough promise that they shifted their focus to the ideas showing results.

About the only thing that Naruto was disappointed in was that they couldn't work on Hinatas element. She knew that her chakra had a water affinity and he was overjoyed at learning that. He was dying to add a major water attack to his Fuuton Rasengan to create another Kufuu Suika no jutsu like the one he and Yamato sensei hammered that Kakuzu freak with a few weeks ago. Unfortunately neither one of them really knew much about water element manipulation so that would have to wait.

After finishing six days of training they both felt a confidence unlike any they had felt before. They worked together fluidly and even without the combined element attack Naruto wanted he knew they would be devastating together. The amount of power they could control was more than a little disturbing to Hinata, she didn't like to think about going much further just yet. Naruto though shrugged that unease off completely. That's if he even felt such unease in the first place Hinata sometimes thought. They decided they would spend the last day of their allotted training time simply relaxing. Kurenai was pleased at that and the three of them spent much of that final day together simply relaxing. Kurenai expressed interest in their training, much as she had every evening they had returned but they both wouldn't give her any real answers. They spent several hours in the hot tub over the course of several times that day and Hinata received one exceptionally good massage that had her dazed for a few hours afterwards and they both went out a couple of times consumed a hefty amount of Ichiraku ramen. Granted Naruto easily ate triple what Hinata ate while both Teuchi and Ayame smiled at the two. They also spent some time picking up some replacement kunai and other equipment and made one last stop to see Tsunade. Even Naruto notice that the Hokage seemed a bit flustered as she assured them that all the arrangements for tomorrows fights were made, they only had to show up at noon. Hinata was smugly quiet and Naruto slightly puzzled as they left Tsunades office and walked back to the suite.

---ooo---

Naruto and Hinata walked through the door to the staging area. Naruto was hit with a surprising amount of nostalgia as the small viewing section for contestants brought back some powerful memories from his first chuunin exam. This time though it was quiet as they looked down they could see that Neji was already waiting for him. Giving Hinata a quick hug and a soft kiss he smiled before turning and leaping to the ground.

Neji faced Naruto cautiously. It was strangely familiar that they were once again the first to face each other here at the stadium. Although this time the cheering crowd was gone. Also this time around Gai sensei was acting as the referee. Only a select few were allowed to witness these fights between Naruto and the Hyuga clan. As per the Hyuga elders request not even the majority of the Hyuga clan itself were allowed to see what was about to happen here. Although the Hyuga elder was certain that Naruto would be soundly defeated, Hiashi and Neji were not so sure.

"It's not going to be so easy this time around Naruto." Neji said calmly.

"I don't recall that it was all that easy last time." Naruto smiled.

Neji paused. _'Damn, he's different this time. His absolute confidence is still there but there's a steady calmness that wasn't there before. It's like he's already done this a thousand times. Not only that but it's as if he won the majority, if not all of those thousand times.'_

For the first time Neji began to believe that he had already lost this battle as he activated his Byakugan.

Naruto smiled as he formed his most often used seal.

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu." He called out as eight additional Narutos appeared.

Naruto and the shadow clones all ran forward pulling out their kunai.

'_He's faster than he used to be. No matter, so am I.'_ Neji thought to himself as he engaged the first two clones.

Neji was surprised though when the first two strikes, one per clone, didn't cause them to vanish. Having fought Narutos clones before he had known they could often take more abuse than many others clones but he had also hit each of them harder than he should have needed to. His eyes grew wide as both clones each took a very solid hit and pressed on. Neji's fists blurred and he landed four more hits. The extra two hits to each clone did the trick though and the clones poofed away, turning into rapidly dissipating clouds of smoke.

'_Damn, even his clones are tougher. I don't think everything I've read about the Kage Bunshin technique will help me here.'_ Neji thought.

The bright young star of the Hyuga clan flipped up and over the next two clones, slamming them into one another and concentrated a hefty amount of chakra into each foot. Lashing out he hit the next two more clones with a chakra enhanced kick per clone. The additional chakra was enough that those two clones vanished with the single hit apiece. Unfortunately the two clones he slammed together hadn't vanished and they both turned to strike at Neji at roughly the same time the last two clones rushed in.

'_If I continue to use that much chakra to knock out his clones with a single hit it won't be long before I exhaust my reserves. If he really can generate a thousand clones or more there's no way I'll be able to beat him like this. He'll just keep pounding away at me with clone after clone until I have nothing left.'_ Neji thought as he began to feel slightly uneasy. Naruto often made outrageous boasts but he had a disturbing habit of actually backing up his words. Neji also didn't think Naruto ever really lied about anything. So the more he thought about a thousand Naruto clones the more uneasy he became.

With four Narutos rushing in Neji resorted to the Hyuga Hakkeshou Kaiten and spun while throwing off a huge surge of chakra. The four Narutos were knocked to the ground, three disappeared and the fourth bounced but quickly jumped to his feet. Behind him the ninth Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke.

"I should have known that you wouldn't stay back." Neji said.

Neji smiled as Naruto staggered slightly, he was within range of the 64 palms technique. He knew that Naruto would recover quickly and he had to act fast. Neji surged forward as he quickly built up his chakra into his finger tips targeting Narutos arm for the first set of juken strikes. The briefest instant before he hit though he saw the beginning of one of those damn smiles of Narutos. As his finger made contact with the very first of Narutos tenketsu Neji saw an incredible flare of Narutos chakra come from all of the tenketsu in Narutos arm. Neji's chakra was completely washed away as Narutos chakra enveloped his arm. Neji yelled out as his own arm up to his elbow went numb and he was hurled away from Naruto to land in the dirt easily five meters from the grinning Naruto.

Hiashi, Hanabi and the Hyuga elder were all stunned. To the point in fact that their composure was forgotten and they all stood there with their mouths open. Kurenai, Shikamaru, Shizune and the rest of Team Gai were also surprised, just not as open mouthed about it as the Hyugas. Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi and even Sakura on the other hand all smiled. Off to the side under strict orders from Tsunade herself to keep quiet, Shino, Kiba, Choji and Ino were also looking surprised. Well Shino simply sat there with the only change in his expression being his raised eyebrows. The others slowly closed their mouths. Although Ino and Lee were practically twitching as they suppressed their urge to scream out and loudly cheer Naruto. Considering the restrictions for this match Shino and Shikamaru were the only ones of the younger people who wondered why nearly all of Narutos peers were even there but neither was willing to question the Hokage about it. Especially since they both believed that doing so might get them tossed out and they didn't want to miss these fights. Alone in the staging area Hinata also smiled, with obvious satisfaction even though she had been certain of the outcome of this match days earlier.

'_Damn, again he anticipated my thoughts, just like our first fight and he guided me into striking his arm. He's like some sort of tactical idiot savant or something. Still that counter wastes a lot of chakra. If I can get him to use it more without taking any damage myself hopefully he'll burn up most of his own chakra. Although he'd simply just replenish his reserves using the damn fox. '_ Neji thought as he frowned and shook his arm, trying to get the feeling to return.

"Told ya I could beat the 64 and 128 palm techniques and that's just one of the ways I can beat it too." Naruto smiled wildly as he looked back to Hinata and gave her a thumbs up.

"I'd say that's a point to Naruto." Tsunade said as she looked coldly at the Hyuga elder, who glared back at her with unhidden malice. Hiashi on the other hand didn't even bother to look to Tsunade, he just stared intently at Naruto with his own Byakugan active.

"He didn't use any of the fox's chakra for that." Hiashi said quietly.

"Oh you guys will have to press Naruto much, much harder than that for him to even think about drawing on the fox, he absolutely despises drawing on the fox. His own chakra levels are truly unbelievable. In fact I'd say the only way you would see any of the fox's chakra is if you manage to somehow threaten Hinatas life." Jiraiya said quite smugly with a grin not too unlike Narutos.

"Tell you what Neji, since this isn't a real match, being only an assessment of the weaknesses of the Hyuga techniques, I'll let you use the 64 palms again for the next shot for free. I won't even use my 64 palm cancellation surge technique either." Naruto grinned.

In the stands the Hyuga elder lost all the color in his face as a cold rage settled on him that few other than the Hyuga could match. "How dare he insult us like that?" The old man practically growled.

"Elder, calm yourself or you will be the one to truly embarrass the clan here." Hiashi said as he smiled inwardly, he didn't know exactly why but he was really beginning to like the brash and obnoxious Naruto.

Naruto dropped into a loose ready stance as Neji picked himself up off the ground and dropped into the low ready stance of the 64 palms technique.

"As you wish Naruto." Neji smiled as he shook off unease he felt as his Byakugan picked up the eerie confidence practically oozing out of Naruto. _'There is simply no way he could possibly stand up to the 64 palms without using that ridiculous, chakra wasting surge technique. Trust Naruto to come up with something that uses so much chakra it would likely kill a typical genin who managed to pull it off. As if that itself wasn't bad enough, he doesn't seem to be at all effected by wasting all that chakra. Even without the fox I wonder just how much chakra he has.'_ Neji thought to himself as he scowled at his opponent.

They both concentrated on their chakra. Narutos smile took on a look of calm superiority. As Neji looked on he nearly stumbled at the sight of Narutos tenketsu. He could barely see them, they were actually blurry and the fuzzy image of each tenketsu was much larger than it should be.

Trying to shrug it off Neji rushed Naruto who simply stood there. Neji struck, two palms, four palms, eight palms. He wasn't able to actually hit any of Narutos tenketsu. Granted the strikes were pushing the orange clad ninja back a bit with each strike but without hitting the tenketsu it really wasn't much more than a literal 'gentle fist'. Neji's chakra simply washed over Naruto, quickly dissipating, completely ineffective without being focused into Narutos tenketsu. A second year academy student could probably put more force into their strikes. Naruto just kept on smiling as he stepped back with each series of strikes, absorbing most of the actual impact with each backward motion. He simply smiled as more and more of Neji's chakra washed over him. Neji on the other hand got angrier and angrier as it became obvious nothing was happening. He pushed harder, sixteen palms, thirty two palms and finally sixty four palms. The dust cleared showing Naruto still standing, smiling while Neji's head began to throb with the beginning of a headache and he began to breath heavily. He immediately abandoned his thoughts about attempting the 128 palms attack.

"Getting a headache aren't you? You don't truly understand do you?" Naruto said as he generated his basic Rasengan. "I use this nearly as much as I use my shadow clones, possibly more if you count all the silly stuff I do with it. You can probably see better than almost everyone here that it's a spinning mass of chakra. One of the things I really know about when it comes to my chakra… is spin. Keep using your Byakugan on my tenketsu now and you're liable to give yourself a migraine. The best part about my tenketsu spin technique is that unlike the surge it uses hardly any chakra. I could probably keep this going for days, possibly even indefinitely. Believe me when I tell you that the only Hyuga who can match or beat me when I use this defense against the Hyuga Juken is Hinata. Her eyes especially and her strikes when she believes in herself are both faster than yours and even she would have to be lucky to hit my tenketsu now."

Naruto looked up and smiled to Hinata who blushed softy at his praise.

"That's impossible!" Neji shouted in frustration. "Nobody can do that! The tenketsu don't move! It must be a genjutsu!"

"You're kidding right?" Naruto laughed as he tilted his head to the side. "Lets see, Naruto coming up with something _impossible_ that nobody has ever seen before or Naruto using a genjutsu that can fool a Hyuga using the Byakugan? Seriously Neji you should know better than that."

"I think it's safe to say that's a second point for Naruto." Tsunade said smugly.

She looked over to the three Hyuga, the elder looked to be on the edge of having an aneurysm, Hiashi looked very thoughtful, without taking his Byakugan enhanced sight away from Naruto, while Hanabi looked completely stunned. Although they clearly heard what was said in the arena, even with the Byakugan all three of them were simply to far away to get a really good look at exactly what Naruto had done. It was quite obvious that whatever this tenketsu spin technique was, he had completely defeated the 64 palms technique by using it.

Neji scowled as he and Naruto faced off again. Focusing his Byakugan he realized that Naruto was only spinning his tenketsu that were actually facing his opponent.

'_Maybe he had been exaggerating when he claimed to be able to keep that going for days.'_ Neji thought as he studied Naruto. _'Although it could simply be a concentration issue and he's simply getting ready to attack me.'_

Neji was suddenly surrounded by Narutos clones in three rings of four giving him no further time to think and Neji knew it was a concentration issue to help with this attack. Naruto himself and two more clones stood outside of the rings. As the first ring charged inward, their Kunai ready to strike, Neji began the Hakkeshou Kaiten. Naruto quickly built up a typical Rasengan and the two clones standing next to him grabbed him and helped hurl him into the air as he leaped with a chakra infused jump. The outermost ring of four clones all ran forward towards Neji. They ran up the backs of the second set of four clones making up the middle ring and all four leaped into the air above Neji. As the first set of clones disappeared and Naruto came flying in above the four heading to the space above Neji the second set of clones whipped out their kunai and attacked Neji as a second wave. The four clones in mid-air grabbed Naruto and all four of them hurled the Rasengan wielding Naruto down towards the very top center of the spinning shell of chakra Neji was generating with his Kaiten. They also used the information gained from the first four clones to spin the real Naruto so he nearly matched the rotation of Neji's spin below him. As the second set of clones began to disappear from hitting the Kaiten, Naruto made one last minor adjustment to his own spin from the additional information he gathered from those clones.

Neji was trapped. He simply wasn't able to stop the Kaiten in time to deal directly with the threat of Naruto and his Rasengan as he followed the second wave of clones almost immediately. Besides Neji knew that if he did stop the Kaiten the remaining clones would be free to effectively attack him, he could even sense them getting ready to do so anyway. With only the barest fraction of a second available to him and no other choice, he tried to surge some of his chakra to his head as the Rasengan impacted the spinning Kaiten at its weakest point, at least against a Rasengan anyway. The Rasengan punched through Neji's Kaiten easier than Naruto thought it could and despite the tremendous buffeting he was subjected to from the Kaiten, Naruto pulled as much chakra as he could from his Rasengan just before it hit Neji on the top of his head. Neji crumpled to the ground still spinning to eventually grind to a stop, laying still and unconscious in the bottom of the shallow crater formed by the Kaiten. Naruto was sent flying through the air still spinning end over end himself. His remaining clones vanished as he passed over them. He was able to just barely bring his own erratic tumbling under some semblance of control before hitting the ground himself. Tucking into a roll he was actually able to catch himself after only a few more tumbles to bounce back to his feet.

"I told you, when it comes to spinning chakra the only Hyuga who can match or beat me is Hinata." Naruto said towards the unconscious Neji before turning to the main sections of seats, glaring intently at the Hyuga elder and yelling out. "ALRIGHT WHO'S NEXT!".

Unable to contain themselves any longer both Lee and Ino started screaming cheers for Narutos victory. All of his friends quickly joined them, even the normally quiet Shino cheered, granted he was the quietest among them. Oddly enough, uncharacteristically, Gai didn't break out into cheering of his own. He had an extremely thoughtful expression on during the entire match and he simply gave Naruto a very respectful smile and nod.

Naruto found himself lost in thought as he walked toward the stands despite the sudden cheering, thinking back to his long training mission with Jiraiya. They had once stopped at another small town that had a large festival going on. Jiraiya seemed to have quite a knack for finding these big celebrations. Jiraiya also had quite a knack for finding a bunch of women to hang over while Naruto would explore the festival pretty much on his own.

---flashback---

_One booth suddenly caught his eye. It was unusual with its sign welcoming ninja. Even more surprising it was one of those target game booths. Naruto cautiously approached and saw a special target off to the side just for Ninja. It didn't seem all that impressive, several small targets on a big circle. The booth operator spotted Naruto and immediately singled him out._

"_Hey kid! You there in the orange from the Leaf Village!" The man yelled out._

"_Me?" Naruto asked pointing to himself._

"_Yeah you, do you see any other Leaf ninja?" The man laughed in a way that oddly didn't irritate Naruto, despite being on the receiving end of a small joke. "Care to try your luck at hitting these targets?"_

"_Seems a little too easy to me." Naruto beamed._

"_Of course it does but I haven't started the wheels yet." The man grinned widely before shouting out. "Step right up everyone and see how not even a ninja can best this target. Kunai, Shuriken, it doesn't matter the spinning wheel is immune to the formidable powers of a shinobi."_

_Naruto grimaced at the mans words and several shuriken appeared in his hands._

"_Wait one moment young sir." The man said quickly at the sight of the shuriken. "I have to start the wheel, any ninja could hit the targets now. Once this really gets going not even the mighty eyes of the Uchiha clan or even the Hyuga clan can hit these targets."_

_Naruto actually snorted at that boast. That didn't stop him from watching the big wheel intently though as the man pressed a button. He quickly eyed the small targets. There were five of them, each three small concentric rings. The outermost ring barely two inches across. Suddenly all five of them began to spin off center. Naruto realized that each was spinning at a different offset from the others and that judging by their starting rotations, they were also spinning at different rates. As he stared intently at each of the five trying to judge how fast they must be spinning despite the fact that all of them were mere blurs the larger circle began to spin as well. This was going to be much harder than he first thought it would be._

_Naruto passed a ryo note to the operator and readied his shuriken. With a series of blurs he quickly fired off two dozen of the small metal stars. The operator smiled as he hit the button again and the target wheel quickly slowed. As the blurred images became visible as small targets once again, Naruto scowled as he could see that only one shuriken even came close to hitting a mark._

_The crowd roared and several people demanded to try it themselves as the man handed Narutos shuriken back to the orange clad ninja. Naruto watched for a good long time as person after person tried and failed. One young women actually hit a target but Naruto knew that was pure luck and had to happen sooner or later considering how many people were throwing the proprietors kunai and shuriken. The young women smiled at Naruto as the proprietor handed her a medium sized stuffed animal and Naruto actually returned the smile with a nod. After a while though the crowd dissipated leaving the man and Naruto alone together._

"_So have you really had an Uchiha and a Hyuga try hitting those targets?" Naruto asked._

"_Actually yes, although it's been over a dozen years since that happened, I've been doing this a long time." The man sighed with a hint of sadness._

"_Do you mind if I look over that target wheel of yours?"_

"_Nah, I made a bit more money tonight thanks to you. People love trying to beat out a ninja and every time I get a real ninja to play this I get a good crowd."_

"_Can you make it spin slowly?"_

"_Sure, give me a second." The man walked back the dozen paces or so to reach behind the wheel. Naruto heard a click and the man came back to press the button and the wheels within wheels began to spin slowly. Naruto walked up and closely studied the target and the beginning of an idea slowly formed in his head. After several minutes he smiled, turned to thank the man and quickly made his way back to the hotel room he was sharing with the Toad Sage._

---end flashback---

"Well, well, I'd say that's most definitely a third point for Naruto." Tsunade said as her own smile grew even larger.

"He **IS** some kind of monster!" The Hyuga elder exclaimed. "He must be merging with the damn fox! Or even worse that thing is getting out of its prison. We should execute him before the damn thing completely escapes and kills us all."

"No, that's not true." Hiashi said softly as he looked down into the arena. The scene below brought back vivid visions of the last time Naruto faced off against Neji here in the stadium. "He hasn't touched the fox's chakra at all for this fight. Anyone with the stamina and skill Naruto possesses could do those techniques."

"So which of you wishes to continue this? I don't believe Naruto has finished demonstrating his counters to the Hyuga techniques." Tsunade said with a smug grin as she thought back to a conversation she had with Jiraiya after the mission that started this whole thing. She was certain that Naruto had at least one more really good counter to the Hyuga family and she could barely wait to see what else he had thought up.

"I'll settle this right now then!" The elder exclaimed as he headed down to the arena floor.

In a short amount of time Naruto and the Hyuga elder faced off against each other. The old man glared at Naruto who simply smiled in his particularly feral manner. The Hyuga elder activated his Byakugan and stared intently and angrily at the young ninja facing him.


	16. Chapter 16 2nd & 3rd assessment

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is the Manga books from 1 to 3 and then from 9 to 15 along with the first three uncut DVD box sets. I'm hoping to fill out the missing books to my manga collection by the time the new release schedule kicks in this September.

Thank you to Masashi Kishimoto for creating such great characters. I've never been able to work so easily with fanfiction before

Thanks again to everyone who has submitted reviews and messages.

Finally (and this is late too) Thanks to Leafninja dot com for being an excellent resource for how to spell a lot of the stuff I couldn't find in my manga books.

**Ch 16**

Naruto was quite conflicted facing this old guy as he thought of him. As much as he felt the old man needed his head handed to him because of his attitude towards Hinata, Naruto felt that beating up an old man really wasn't a 'polite' thing to do. He also worried that the geezer wouldn't be as easy a push over as he would like. When they rescued Gaara a few months ago that old lady Chiyo was certainly a lot tougher than any old retired person should be and she had looked a lot older than the man before him now. This Hyuga elder could most certainly be very dangerous despite his age. Naruto was also concerned that the old man could have all sorts of secret techniques using the Byakugan that he had never seen or imagined.

Naruto concentrated and immediately spun up his tenketsu. The old man activated his Byakugan and gasped.

"What manner of demonic evil is this?" The elder demanded.

"It's not evil, just something I taught myself. You know maybe you should think about giving up now. I'd say that you're eyes aren't any good if you think this is in any way demonic." Naruto laughed, hoping he was pushing the old mans buttons.

"Just because that foul creatures taint isn't readily visible doesn't mean it isn't there. The mere fact that you can do something impossible must mean that foul creature is further influencing you!" The elder was basically attempting the same verbal harassment as Naruto.

Oddly enough despite the vast difference in their age and experience, Naruto held something of an advantage here. The young shinobi had been dealing with verbal assaults for as long as he could remember. It would take more than some old fool to anger him with mere words about the damn fox. The Hyuga elder on the other hand had a lifetime of people bowing to him, most unwilling to say anything that might upset him. The mere fact that this annoying clan-less youngster would even glare back at him was enough to raise his blood pressure.

"Are you sure you don't want to give up now?" Naruto asked with his wild grin. "I wouldn't want people making fun of me for beating up an old geezer like you. I've got my reputation to worry about you know."

"What reputation do you mean? That of the village prankster or that of the village idiot." The old man said with a sneer.

"Oh well just don't go around saying I didn't warn you." Naruto laughed formed a single hand seal, focused his chakra and called out to activate one of his signature jutsu.

Easily a hundred Narutos suddenly surrounded the Hyuga elder. About a dozen rushed the old man, who immediately formed a Kaiten and demolished those attacking clones. Naruto concentrated and called up eight more clones while a second wave of the original clones rushed forward. The Hyuga elder destroyed that second wave while continuing to utilize his Kaiten. While the old man was spinning Naruto began to concentrate again, this time quickly forming two Rasengans. He immediately passed those two spinning orbs of chakra off to two of the second set of clones he had created. Each of them took the Rasengan and ran off to the other side of the mass of clones attacking the old man. Each second the Hyuga elder would destroy another wave of Narutos while the original would pass off two more Rasengans and those clones would rush off. As the crowd of Narutos from the original clone jutsu got smaller and smaller the second set of Rasengan wielding clones completely encircled the whole crowd and moved forward each time the mass contracted. As that was happening Naruto formed a Rasengan of his own that he kept in his hand waiting.

With one last burst of smoke the last of the first batch of clones vanished upon impacting the elders Kaiten. The second set rushed forward brandishing their Rasengans in their right hands to strike the spinning Kaiten in the opposite direction of its spin. The clones reached out with their left hands and as the elders Kaiten reflected the eight Rasengans with a flare of light back to the circle of clones each clone caught the reflected Rasengans that their immediate counterpart on their left had struck with. They all quickly passed the Rasengans to their right hands and struck again.

The elder sensed what was happening and forced even more of his chakra into the Kaiten. Each time the eight Rasengans impacted the Kaiten and bounced off, shock waves would flow through to the old man and he had to pour more and more of his chakra into his defense. Finally after a few more volleys of this the elder could no longer maintain the flow of chakra and the force of the Rasengans was finally able to punch through to completely stop the elders spinning chakra and collapse the Kaiten. The Hyuga elder was brought to an abrupt stop from the force of his chakra being halted and was narrowly missed by the eight Rasengans as the clones stumbled into the shallow crater and managed to impact each other with the Rasengans causing all eight of them to vanish.

The elder smiled for a brief fraction of a second. For just a moment there he honestly believed he had bested Narutos new attack. Unfortunately he had completely forgotten about the original Naruto. Until Naruto lunged forward and planted his own Rasengan into the elders back that is. The elder cursed himself for that small moment in time before his consciousness fled as Narutos Rasengan picked him up, spun him around and flung him through the air. The elder sailed, spinning through the air in a shallow arc that ended with him crashing into the brush at the edge of the arena roughly 15 meters away. Luckily for the old man Naruto had hit him with a pretty weak Rasengan

Tsunade looked over to the stunned Hyuga. Neji was now sitting on the other side of Hiashi opposite of Hanabi. Fully awake and aware thanks to one of the medical teams that were standing by. They had mostly been staying out of sight during the fights. Once again all of the Hyuga stared in open mouthed shock as two of the medical team rushed into the bushes and shortly emerged with the still knocked out elder on a stretcher.

"I do believe that is the fourth point for Naruto." She said with a smug smile.

For a second time cheering erupted from his friends. With Lee and Ino seemingly competing to see who could be louder.

Tsunade called for a brief break to give Naruto some time to recover. Naruto started to protest that he didn't need such a break but the glare Tsunade gave him quickly silenced him. So with a shrug he bounded back to the staging area to talk to Hinata. As he left the stadium floor the medical team had revived the Hyuga elder. The old man was dazed and while obviously not happy he decided to keep his mouth shut for once as he was helped back to the stands.

Naruto spent the fifteen minutes Tsunade demanded finishing off some water and doing some breathing/relaxation exercises. He and Hinata gave each other reassuring smiles, everything was going as they expected. They were both uneasy about the coming match though. Although slightly past his prime Hiashi was most likely the most capable opponent Naruto was going to face. He had a lifetime of experience using the Hyuga techniques. Naruto was most concerned about secret techniques that only the clan head would know. He had one more defensive technique to try. Although working with Hinata had shown that it wasn't as effective as either the surge or spin techniques it might help keep Hiashi off balance. He was also saving his best anti-Hyuga attack. Even though it was a variation of what he had already used, he felt it was the best. The seemed shorter than he expected it to be but he gave Hinata another smile and vaulted to the stadium floor below.

For the third time today Naruto found himself standing in the arena facing a pair of pale Hyuga eyes. This final single fight he faced Hinatas father. That alone was enough to give the young man pause. To top it off he was supposed to defeat this man and just looking at him standing there calmly before him, Naruto knew this wasn't going to be as easy as the last two fights.

Hiashi himself was also uneasy with the prospect of facing Naruto. He had been completely stunned to see the defeat of Neji and the elder. It had been shocking enough years ago when Neji and Naruto had fought and Naruto had not only called on the power of the nine tailed fox but had controlled it in order to defeat Neji. This time around it was through his own power alone that he defeated Neji again and also defeated the elder. Even worse he had done so quickly and with apparent ease. Although truth to be told a small part of him found the elders defeat rather satisfying. This fight though was not going to be easy and he wondered if he actually held any advantage over Naruto other than being the father of his girlfriend.

'_Perhaps starting off with a genjutsu would be a good tactic.'_ Hiashi thought.

Concentrating his chakra Hiashi began to weave a subtle genjutsu. With a quick hand seal the chakra structure began to form. Unfortunately Naruto somehow felt it. Perhaps he was finally becoming more attuned to genjutsu or perhaps he caught a hint about it from Hinata watching up in the staging area. Regardless he reacted much the way he did a few months ago when facing Itachi. Naruto suddenly felt anger out of proportion to the fight before him. He wasn't about to get caught again by such a trick. He concentrated a massive amount of his own chakra and threw the massive surge against Hiashi's genjutsu. This time around Naruto proved to have the stronger chakra and the illusion fell away before it could truly take a hold of him.

"Hey! I thought we were here to see the tactics I came up with to defeat the Hyuga techniques?" Naruto yelled out. "You'll have to put a lot more chakra into your genjutsu if you seriously want it to work on me. Come on now, don't you want to see my tenketsu spin technique up close?"

Hiashi frowned. Naruto had just made something of a fool of him. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten that this was no simple straight forward fight. Naruto was supposed to be demonstrating his techniques against those of the Hyuga clan. Hiashi sighed in resignation as he activated his Byakugan to see this 'impossible' technique. Something wasn't nagging at the back of his head though. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but there was some kind of deception behind Narutos words. He was surprised when he felt another massive build up of chakra emanating from Naruto. The young man before him simply made two seals and Hiashi realized that whatever it was he was about to face, it was simple and powerful.

'_DAMN!'_ He thought as he quickly dropped his Byakugan and squeezed his eyes shut as Naruto released this new counter. _'He almost got me there.'_

The entire stadium filled with light as Narutos 'flashbulb' technique went off. Nearly everyone winced in pain the light was so bright. Only Naruto, Hiashi and Hinata were completely unaffected.

"I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to catch you with that one. Hinata was also sure it wouldn't work but hey you never know until you try." Naruto said with a grin.

"That's hardly original Naruto." Hiashi answered with his own grin.

"It's not?"

"Not even close. In fact something along those lines was the first attempted counter to the Byakugan many, many years ago."

"Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised I kind of thought that one was too easy." Naruto laughed, on some level he was actually beginning to like Hinatas father.

Naruto concentrated again and set his tenketsu spinning. Even though his flashbulb technique was a bust the spin technique was damn effective. Hiashi didn't feel any massive build up of chakra but even without the Byakugan it was obvious that Naruto was up to something. With a slight hesitation he activated his Byakugan and gasped as he finally got to see this 'tenketsu spin' technique of Narutos. He instantly saw why both Neji and the elder had gotten so upset with this earlier. It should have been impossible. Never in the history of the Hyuga clan had anyone they had ever faced come up with something like this. It had always been assumed that the tenketsu did not move. To see it actually happen before his very eyes was extremely unsettling. His eyes began to ache a little and he knew that the more he looked at this technique of Narutos that ache would become severely painful.

"Well that is most impressive." Hiashi acknowledged Naruto with a small nod of his head.

"Care to give it a shot?" Naruto said as his feral grin returned.

Hiashi merely nodded as he dropped into the low ready stance of the Hakke Hyakunijuuhachishou. Hiashi was going to attempt the full one hundred and twenty eight strike attack. Naruto merely smiled as he dropped into a low ready stance of his own. Hiashi struck forward and much like the time Neji attempted the sixty four strike attack, is was almost completely ineffective. Naruto yelped in surprise though as Hiashi went through the very last of the attack. Hiashi smiled for a moment as Naruto backed up. He had actually scored a hit on one of Narutos tenketsu. His smile slowly faded though and turned into a frown as he realized that it had been pure luck that he had scored that hit.

"Well I see you're not completely invulnerable after all." Hiashi forced the smile to return.

Annoyingly enough though Naruto simply grinned more.

"Of course not. Although I'm certain that I can take more hits and stick it out long enough so that headache you're getting forces you to drop the Byakugan. Besides I can always do this."

Hiashi scowled, he knew that Naruto was likely correct about the headache. Despite the growing pain in his head and eyes Hiashi continued to watch Narutos tenketsu as they began to slow. His mouth actually fell open as he saw the young mans chakra build up behind the blocked tenketsu and it began to vibrate. The skin surrounding that single point began to actually glow with a faint bluish light as the jammed tenketsu spun to the point of becoming blurry once more. With a small flash it actually popped back open to Hiashi's amazement.

"Damn." The Hyuga head whispered.

"Pretty cool isn't it? As long as the tenketsu surrounded the blocked one are open I can spin up enough chakra behind it until its forced back open. Stings quite a bit more than when a juken strike closes one but being able to re-open a closed tenketsu can certainly come in handy. It may take a bit of time but I think its safe to say that headache you're getting would give me plenty of time." Naruto said with his grin still plastered on his face.

"You sound like you know this from experience." Hiashi stated.

"Well Hinata and I have been practicing quite a lot this past week." Narutos grin took on a slightly vicious look to it before he continued. "Although, Hinata can usually get between three and six of my tenketsu when we're practicing this. In fact she once got ten of them."

Both Naruto and Hiashi were so focused on each other that neither of them noticed that Gai was listening intently to every word. If they had looked it would have been obvious even to Naruto that Gai was thinking very intently about Narutos new techniques.

"So would you like to go up against my 'Chakra Surge' technique?" Naruto said as his smile shifted over to have a sly cast to it.

"I don't think so Naruto, I saw enough from the stands when you used it against Neji. You have already demonstrated that you can shift your chakra faster than I can strike, so you would definitely be able to effectively defend yourself with it against me. You also showed that you can call up greater chakra than I can when you broke through my genjutsu earlier so I doubt I could overpower it. I am curious to know how Hinata has fared against it though." Hiashi said.

"Well she can beat me out about a third of the time during our practice sessions but even there it doesn't do her much good. I can spin my tenketsu back open pretty quickly now and once the surge catches her, she can't use a juken strike for about five minutes. She can really pump a lot of her chakra into her juken strikes but she can't quite match the amount each of my tenketsu gets when I use the surge."

"Sounds like you two had a very intense week of practice for this."

"You better believe it. Just you wait until you see the two of us fight together." Narutos feral grin returned and Hiashi felt a small core of ice grow in his stomach.

"So should we continue then?" Hiashi asked as he suppressed the feeling of unease growing within him.

"O.k. but don't forget that you asked for this." Narutos grin grew wider as he called forth a not so small army of shadow clones.

The clones surged forward and Hiashi immediately began to spin and form a Kaiten. It was in many ways something of a replay of the final confrontation between Naruto and the Hyuga elder. The masses of Naruto clones were attacking Hiashi's Kaiten and Naruto was handing off Rasengan after Rasengan to a second set of clones he created after the rush began. The eight surrounded Hiashi again just like the elder. Hiashi gritted his teeth at the imminent impacts. He figured that it was going to come down to who had the greater will so he increased the amount of his chakra he was pouring into his Kaiten. This time though the ring of eight clones hit Hiashi's Kaiten in the opposite direction then the way the clones that had fought the elder had earlier. They all impacted into the rotation instead of against and catching the reflected Rasengans they continued to strike again and again, pounding away at the spinning Hiashi. Each impact increased the rotational velocity of the spinning Hyuga and in short order he was beginning to feel his control slip away as his Kaiten started to sink a little faster into the ground. To make matters worse, despite the famed Hyuga eyes he had somehow managed to lose track of Naruto. He thought that the young man had created another clone and was preparing something similar to how he had defeated the elder earlier. He had completely missed that the two Narutos he was trying to concentrate on as his spinning got faster and faster were both clones. He had also not seen that they had already hurled the real Naruto into the air above Hiashi. Through the noise of the spinning energy around him he suddenly heard Naruto call out above him.

"Fuuton Rasengan!"

Hiashi's eyes grew wide as he realized that he had made an extremely critical mistake by losing track of the real Naruto. Focusing his attention above him he was able to perceive just how big a threat this 'Fuuton Rasengan' was. He paled considerably, despite the spinning force pushing his blood outwards, as the spinning mass of chakra hit his Kaiten. Concentrating as much as he could he pushed every last bit of his own chakra into his Kaiten.

As the wind driven Rasengan impacted Hiashi's Kaiten the shockwaves emanating through Hiashi's spinning mass of chakra were the final straw on the already highly stressed clones and they all poofed away in puffs of smoke, their own Rasengans disappearing in an instant. Hiashi's Kaiten began to collapse itself, only this time it collapsed by growing steadily smaller and tighter as Hiashi tried in vain to push more chakra into it to keep it going. This had the odd effect of actually making it easier for Narutos Fuuton Rasengan to spin him even faster along while pushing him even further into the ground. Unable to take any more of the sheer force of spinning, Hiashi blacked out. Naruto struggled mightily to draw as much energy from the Rasengan as he could while the Kaiten disappeared beneath him. He really did not want to kill Hiashi.

As the Fuuton Rasengan faded Naruto spread his feet apart to hit the walls of the odd crater he found himself in. Bending his knees and forcing some chakra into his legs he easily leaped out of the hole in the ground. Landing near the craters edge he was surprised at how deep it was. Unlike the shallow craters normally made by a Hyuga Kaiten that were obviously made by some sort of sphere, this crater was more like the inside of a wide ice cream cone. Roughly two meters below him he could make out that only Hiashi's head and shoulders were not buried. Naruto peered down and breathed a sigh of relief since it was obvious from the dust moving that Hiashi was still alive and breathing.

"Hey can I get a little help here!" Naruto called out to the medical team.

He probably shouldn't have bothered since when he turned his back to call out, Gai leaped down and managed to pull Hiashi out. The medical team rushed forward as Gai eased him to the ground. In short order the lead medic turned and gave Tsunade a thumbs up. Hiashi would likely be out for a few more minutes but there was nothing life threatening about his condition.

"Very good work Naruto." Gai said with one of his gleaming smiles and signature thumbs up pose before he continued in a whisper. "I would like you to stop by one morning when Lee and I are training. I've got some questions for you about this spin technique."

"Fifth point for Naruto!" Tsunade yelled out above Naruto and Hinatas cheering friends. Naruto frowned for a moment. If his other defense against the Byakugan had really worked he'd have six points. He suddenly laughed out as he realized just how silly that thought was. He had just countered and defeated what many considered the greatest fighting style in all of Konoha. He really had nothing to frown about he thought as one of his big grins grew on his face.

Naruto beamed as he glanced up Hinata and saw the look of satisfied relief on her face. As his friends erupted into loud cheering once again he waved and turned his smile to them. He then waved Hinata to come down and after waiting the brief moment for her to join him they both leaped up to the crowd above.

"Good work Naruto. Although I thought I said something about not using that wind Rasengan." Tsunade forced herself to glower at Naruto.

"Oh give me a break already granny. You clearly meant that I shouldn't use the Rasen-Shuriken. The Fuuton Rasengan is safe." Naruto paused for a moment in order to laugh a bit. "Well for me it is."

Tsunade glanced over to the subdued Hyuga in the stands and then down to the still unconscious Hiashi before looking back to Naruto as his friends crowded around.

"I think that in order to be fair to the Hyuga we should postpone the follow up match pitting Naruto and Hinata against the Hyuga clan." She said firmly.

The Hyuga elder nodded quietly in agreement. He was still in a state of shock. Neji stood up, still a bit wobbly himself and walked over to the crowd.

"Very impressive Naruto, you did exceptionally well." Neji said as Naruto smiled.

"Thanks Neji! It's all part of my master plan to change the Hyuga clan!"

"Is it really?" Neji's eyes grew wide.

Naruto suddenly looked embarrassed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well…sorry but not really. This stuff is really for myself and Hinata. I figured I'd work on changing the Hyuga clan after I became Hokage."

"Naruto, if you want to know the truth you've already done more for the Hyuga clan than you know." Neji bowed.

"Really?" Naruto was now the shocked one as Neji's words sank into his mind.

"So who's up for some lunch?" Tsunade yelled out her voice driving everyone else to silence. "It'll be on me if that helps." She sighed as everyone cheered.

A/N

For the DBZ fans, yes Narutos 'flashbulb' technique is pretty much the equivalent to the 'solar flare' technique seen in DBZ. Don't expect to see it again here though. It just seemed that something along those lines would be a rather obvious counter to attempt against the Byakugan. Being so obvious it would of course be rather ineffective, so as I said that will most likely be the only time it'll be shown in any of my stories.

Also it is very frustrating when you have an idea that seems obvious to certain aspects of the Naruto universe and someone else has already done it. Hopefully my spin open technique is an original enough way to re-open the tenketsu. The first (and only) time I encountered something along those lines in fanfiction is in 'Team 8' by Matthew Schocke aka S'TarKan. My apologies to Matthew if it's not deemed original enough.


	17. Chapter 17 NarutoHinata vs Hyuga!

Ch 17

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is the Manga books from 1 to 3 and then from 9 to 15 along with the first three uncut DVD box sets. I'm hoping to fill out the missing books to my manga collection by the time the new release schedule kicks in this September.

Thank you to Masashi Kishimoto for creating such great characters. I've never been able to work so easily with fanfiction before

Thanks again to everyone who has submitted reviews and messages.

Finally (and this is late too) Thanks to Leafninja dot com for being an excellent resource for how to spell a lot of the stuff I couldn't find in my manga books.

I do believe this is my longest chapter yet. I only gave the final cut a single full read through, although I have read each of the sections a few times, basically please excuse any minor mistakes. Not counting the A/Ns, fluff and interlude (more fluff) the fight scene itself is a bit over 10k words. I hope everyone enjoys this one, there was a thing or two I felt wasn't quite right but it's getting late and I don't want to sit on this another day.

---Interlude---

The night before the assessment battles.

Lee nervously knocked on the door. For a change he wasn't wearing green. For tonight he had felt something else would be more appropriate, so he pulled out a short white kimono with black trim along with some black pants, similar to what he wore when he first became a genin. The past week and a half had been rather nerve racking. To find out all that stuff about Naruto had nearly floored him. It hadn't helped to be scolded by Tsunade either. He had sensed that something was bothering Sakura and much to his surprise he had not only asked her out on a date but she had said yes. Granted she had put the condition that he could only consider her a friend despite going out with him on a date but he was still overjoyed. He had made a quick stop to the Yamanaka flower shop and picked up a half dozen flowers. Ino had smiled at him in a disturbingly knowing way but he shook off that particular unease. When Sakura opened the door he was again stunned by her beauty much like he always was but he was relieved that he actually remembered to give her the flowers.

"Daffodils I believe." He finally squeaked out and smiled in embarrassment from the squeak.

"Oh Lee, you didn't have to. Thank you." Sakura said softly as she took the flowers from him.

Lee shuffled about in the doorway nervously as Sakura disappeared for a moment and returned with the flowers in a vase that she put on a small table near the door.

"Ready?" She asked.

Lee simply nodded, not trusting himself to speak. They walked quietly together to a small café not far from her home. Lee had stopped there on the way to the Haruno residence to make a reservation so they were seated immediately. They both ordered tea and there was a short uncomfortable silence for a moment before Lee gathered his courage.

"So why did you finally agree to a date, even with the condition that we could only go as friends." He said obviously nervous.

"I'm not really sure Lee." Sakura answered as she looked down for a moment. "I think that the relationship between Naruto and Hinata may have something to do with it."

"And stressing the 'friends only' part?"

"Lee…" She paused as she looked up. "You've always liked me and I don't want you to think that I'm leading you on. Especially now, you deserve better than that."

"Now?"

"Lee I'm something of a mess as far as dating goes. I've still got issues over Sasuke and I couldn't start dating anyone until that is cleared up. After we saw him on that mission I've been very confused and I don't want you to get your hopes up about me."

"That I understand, thank you for your honesty."

Lee smiled and stopped questioning her. He felt there was much more behind her words but to push her further with this subject would probably ruin the evening. From then on their conversation stayed focused on less serious subjects. They did talk a bit about Naruto and Hinata, mostly about the matches tomorrow. Sakura was worried that someone was going to get hurt. She knew that Naruto wouldn't give up as long as he could stand and he had gotten extremely powerful under Jiraiya's tutelage. Lee had absolute faith that Naruto was going to win easily. Sakura wanted him to explain since despite being one of Narutos closest friends she didn't have the same faith.

"You should know as well as anyone Sakura." Lee chided her. "Naruto may seem to be something of an idiot but in reality his brain just works differently than most people, if not all of them. Seriously how many times has he surprised you when he was fighting?"

Sakura thought back to the first time she had seen Naruto fight when they first became genin. He had actually gotten the drop on Kakashi for a moment and if their sensei hadn't been so fast he would have gotten a bell on his own.

"More than I can think of, although he's been doing so since we became genin."

"Exactly. Now I bet a close second to thinking about Sasuke for the past three years he's been thinking about Neji and the Byakugan. Neji almost had him beat but he surprised everyone and actually beat the 'Hyuga Genius'. I know now that it was the Kyuubi that allowed him to win but I also know that he despises the Kyuubi and can't stand to draw on its power. He told me about hurting you." Lee finished quietly.

"That wasn't that big of a deal." Sakura answered quietly herself.

"Yes it was Sakura, more than you know apparently. He was very distraught when he came to me about the gates, mostly because of hurting you. Now I have no idea what we're going to see tomorrow but I'll bet you another date that its going to be so surprising that it'll stop the Hyuga in their tracks and he'll beat them with ease."

"Another date hmm?" Sakura smiled. "I'll take you up on that, on the condition that he beats them easily. Nothing like that Rasen-Shuriken monstrosity of his or any other hyper powerful jutsu that normal shinobi can't do that he may have learned or invented. So if I win you take me wherever I want to go with you buying and if you win we go wherever you want to go with me buying.

They both smiled thinking there was no way either of them could lose. Although Lee felt that even if he did lose he would still win. The rest of the 'date' was relatively quiet. Although they argued slightly when Lee insisted that he pay for evening meal. After a while Sakura rolled her eyes and gave in. The walk home was quick and there was no awkwardness when they got to the door, much to Sakura's relief. Lee wore a wide grin all the way home after they parted at her door. Sure they were just friends but this 'friends only' date had not only gone well but he was guaranteed at least one more date.

The next day Lee was nearly bouncing after Narutos three wins. Sakura was somewhat dazed and he decided he would need to think carefully about exactly where they were going on their next date.

---end interlude---

It had been a rather nerve racking day and evening for Hinata. Having lunch with all of their friends and teachers was great but Hinatas heart just wasn't into the celebration. She was a little concerned about her relatives declining to join them and she knew that they were furiously planning for tomorrow. She was overjoyed with Narutos victory but she didn't do anything herself and that was one of the things bothering her. She didn't even have any interest in tormenting Tsunade. She did notice an odd interplay between Sakura and Lee though. She didn't know what was going on between the two but Lee seemed overjoyed and Sakura seemed oddly subdued. Also Ino seemed to be focusing a lot of her attention on them. Hinata caught a snip of conversation from them though that intrigued her.

"Care to try for double or nothing tomorrow?" Lee asked Sakura.

"I-" Sakura started to say before Tsunade cut her off.

"Sakura how many times have I told you not to follow in my footsteps when it comes to betting?" the Hokage said with a slightly harsh edge to her voice.

"Sorry Tsunade-sama." The suddenly subdued Sakura said.

That was definitely interesting Hinata thought as she turned back to Naruto who seemed intent on boring Shikamaru to death judging by the look on Shikamarus face anyway. Chouji though seemed enthralled with whatever Naruto was talking about.

Lunch was winding down when Kiba said something that brought Hinata out of her quiet mood.

"Kiba-kun…" Hinata started softly with her voice shifting to a normal speaking tone when Kiba looked her way. "Kurenai sensei has told you before that Kibalicious is not a word."

"Well, it should be." Kiba replied with a slight pout.

Everyone in the immediate area looked up as Shino sighed rather loudly. Naruto glanced at all of 'Team 8' and then over to Kurenai, apparently this had been going on for at least several months now he realized. Hinata also glanced over to the table Kurenai was sitting on to see her roll her eyes and studiously ignore Kiba. Naruto was struck by sudden inspiration.

"Why don't you convince Tsunade to make it a word Kiba? She is the Hokage after all." Naruto said with an oddly calculating smile.

"Hey! That's right! Thanks Naruto!" Kiba exclaimed obviously excited before turning and waving to Tsunade as he yelled out. "Hey Godaime Tsunade-sama! Can you make 'Kibalicious' a word for me?"

Tsunade turned and with a short glance of daggers towards Naruto she glared at Kiba.

"No." Tsunade immediately turned her back to the younger shinobi.

"Don't you worry about it Kiba, when I become Hokage I'll put forth a decree making 'Kibalicious' a real word and property of the Inuzuka clan." Naruto said with a grin.

"Hey that's great! Man now I can hardly wait until you become the Hokage!" Kiba was about to ask Tsunade when she was planning on retiring but seeing the Hokage spin around and glare furiously at Naruto caused him to change his mind. Kiba quickly went back to eating, letting the Kibalicious conversation disappear.

The rest of lunch was seemingly uneventful, although it was obvious that Gai was asking some rather intent questions to Kurenai and Kakashi but judging by his expression he wasn't getting any real answers. The last notable thing to Hinata about lunch was Gai again. As they were all leaving he approached Naruto to remind him that they would have to setup a few sessions to go over some of the finer points about the celestial gates. Hinata could tell that Gai wanted to say more to Naruto but the normally flamboyant jounin was acting unusually quiet and subdued. He also seemed a little too intent regarding her boyfriend Hinata mused to herself as the man left. She didn't think the way Gai got people to push themselves would necessarily make a good combination with Naruto. Her boyfriend already pushed himself a little too far in Hinatas opinion. Well as far as training went anyway. She smiled just a bit as the slightest tinge of red entered her cheeks.

After lunch the afternoon and evening were not only completely unremarkable but went on and on for what seemed like forever to Hinata, she kept thinking back to the fight and some of it didn't make sense but strangely Naruto didn't want to talk about it. They finally made their way back to the guest suite well after dark. After some idle chit chat with Kurenai, they all headed off to bed. Hinata followed her now usual routine of heading off to Kurenai's room to change before quietly heading back to Narutos. She had been slightly annoyed every evening during the past week, that he had already been asleep by the time she got to the room. She was a bit surprised to find him asleep even the night before when they had spent that entire day relaxing. Tonight was slightly different. As she walked in she felt his eyes watching her through the shadows as she walked up to the bed and pulled the covers back. As she climbed into the bed and snuggled up next to him he finally wanted to talk about the fights earlier.

"We really showed them today didn't we Hinata-chan?"

"Actually I think it was you who did all the work." She replied sadly.

"Hey, hey, don't be like that. You know as well as I do that I could have never pulled any of that off that smoothly without all the work and help you put into our training this past week."

"I know." She said with a sigh. "I was really hoping that I would finally be able to show them my own strength."

"You will tomorrow." Naruto laughed. "If they thought those three fights today were impressive, just wait 'till they see us fight together.

He rolled to his side and softly kissed her neck, sending tingles throughout her body. Much to her irritation though he didn't continue and was quickly asleep. She lay awake thinking, while Naruto slept next to her with his arm wrapped around her. Slowly though being next to him caused her to relax and after a few minutes she was also asleep with a soft smile on her face.

---ooo---

"It's not going to be as easy today Naruto." Hinata said softly as they walked through the streets of Konoha on their way to the stadium.

"Maybe not but I've got you with me today." He said with one of his grins.

"Seriously you caught them by surprise yesterday. Neji was to be expected since he was the first you fought and they probably did not truly believe your claims. It seems obvious that they had no idea about your clone training. If they had any indication that you acquired what was effectively several years of experience fighting the Kaiten and juken strikes over the past week, they would have been far more cautious. The elder was too much of a fool to take you seriously, even as you were defeating him. It's unbelievable that the man used to be the head of the clan, his brain must be getting soft. My father though, I'm sorry but your defeat of him was too easy. He should not have underestimated you after seeing the first two fights. That is not going to happen today. Also we won't have the luxury of my father holding back to only using the standard Hyuga techniques. We can expect a lot more elemental attacks and plenty of straight forward taijutsu."

"Really which elements?"

"The Hyuga family tends to have chakra predisposition to either air or water. I believe both my father and the elder are both considered wind masters. That is in our favor since due to all of the clone training, you likely have more air based nature manipulation experience than either of them now. Also I think it is safe to say that even without the Kyuubi you are more powerful than they are. I know Neji isn't considered a wind master yet but he is working on it. Collectively they have more experience working elements than you do, so keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that even though my fathers chakra has a predisposition to air, he is very proficient with fire and water. He can pull off some very potent combinations of those three, especially when he works air and fire together."

"Damn, I knew it would have come in handy if we could have gotten you up to speed on water manipulation." Naruto answered while looking thoughtful.

---ooo---

This time Naruto and Hinata walked through the main gate to the stadium floor. They glanced up and saw that the same people from yesterday were their audience again. Being something of a ham Naruto waved wildly to everyone. It didn't take long though before they found themselves in the center of the stadium facing the four Hyuga.

Hinata quickly faced off against Hanabi and for once the older of the two Hyuga girls smiled with utmost confidence. Hanabi hesitated for the briefest of moments, something was very different about her older sister. Hanabi activated her own Byakugan and could easily see the chakra link between Naruto and Hinata.

'_That link is probably the key to defeating her and possibly him as well'_. Hanabi thought to herself.

"Don't even think about it." Hinata nearly growled at her sister. "You don't have the power to sever the link. Tsunade herself couldn't do that, luckily she only got a numb hand and a destroyed chakra scalpel when she tried. If you attempt anything along those lines you will only hurt yourself."

Hanabi paled. Never before had her sister ever been able to so easily read her. Hanabi's own faith in herself faltered. The Hyuga elder had repeated Narutos boast a few nights ago that the only reason why she had been able to best her older sister all those years was the physical resemblance Hanabi bore to their mother. The elder had meant to reassure Hanabi by showing how unrealistic Narutos bragging was. If that boast was in fact true, unlike the elder believed and if Narutos other claims about her sister were true as well, Hinata could very well defeat her this time. Hanabi stared into her sisters eyes, Byakugan to Byakugan.

She could still vividly remember Naruto first defeating Neji several years earlier. Watching the blonde shinobi not only defeat her older cousin again a short time ago along with the Hyuga elder and then finally her own father drove home the suspicion she had garnered earlier that the young man wasn't boasting. He was stating simple facts. Hanabi's heart skipped a beat when she suddenly remembered that Naruto had also claimed that Hinata was faster than Neji. In fact the way he said that implied that Hinata was much faster than Neji. Staring into the self assured expression on Hinatas face made Hanabi realize that Naruto was right about why she had always beat Hinata in the past and she knew that the superficial resemblance she had with their mother wasn't going to protect her this time. Hanabi looked into her sisters eyes and could see that her sisters feelings for Naruto easily suppressed the transference of feelings for their mother her older sister had done towards herself that she had benefited from all these years. Hanabi stared deeper into her sisters eyes and realized there was something else lurking deep in those pale orbs. This was something she had never seen in her sister or anyone else for that matter, it was anticipation of some sort. Hanbi was jolted to her very core as she realized her sister was anticipating retribution.

Hanabi snapped back and to the side. She suddenly had no desire to face off against her sister. Perhaps she stood some sort of chance against Naruto. She focused her Byakugan on the boisterous blonde as the other three Hyuga faced off against him but kept their distance. Over the past few months she had begun to suspect that she was slightly faster than both Neji and her Father. If so, maybe it would be enough to get past whatever odd defenses he had used to prevail against the other Hyuga family members.

She couldn't make out his tenketsu! This is what he meant when he mentioned his tenketsu spin technique before. No wonder Neji and the elder had gotten so upset earlier, it should not have been possible! She hadn't truly believed her father last night when he described this defense. A persons tenketsu were not supposed to move! Let alone spin or vibrate or whatever it was that they were doing. The longer she stared, the more the blurred tenketsu began to seemingly bore into her skull. She broke her gaze on Naruto, lunged back to face her sister again, squeezing her eyes shut as she shook her head slightly.

"Hurts doesn't it?" Hinata said with a smile as Hanabi opened her eyes.

"You helped him develop that, didn't you!" Hanabi accused her sister loudly.

"Not as much as you might think." Hinatas smile grew slightly larger. "He already had the basics of all the techniques you've seen today…before he returned to Konoha. I just helped him refine them slightly. The first time he showed me his chakra surge technique, he pushed so much chakra into it that he knocked me off of my feet. If anything I only helped him make sure that he could use these techniques without killing any of us."

Hanabi's mouth fell open in shock. They were the mighty Hyuga clan! Demon fox or no demon fox someone like Naruto shouldn't be able to develop such potent techniques that so easily overcame their greatest strengths.

Hanabi grew irritated with herself and suddenly lunged forward, fully intending to land a series of juken strikes on her sister. It all had to be some sort of subtle genjutsu, there was no way she could accept any of what she saw earlier in her older sisters eyes. As she stepped forward though Hinata suddenly blurred towards her. Hanabi felt a soft almost caress against the finger tips and palm of her forward hand for just the briefest fraction of a second before her whole hand suddenly went numb. Her eyes widened in shock. Somehow with just a single forward sweep Hinata had used some strange variation of the Hyuga juken and shut off all twenty three of the tenketsu in her hand.

"What are you!" Hanabi yelled out as she quickly retreated, shaking her hand furiously.

"All of you have no idea. You were apparently so ready to believe that it was I who had helped Naruto with all of this but in reality it was he that helped me." Hinata chuckled a short abrupt laugh.

Hinata smiled. Of all the things she and Naruto had worked on the past week, this was perhaps her favorite of his ideas for her. Her chakra control was precise enough that with his help and using the shadow clone training technique, she had developed a new juken strike. Instead of pulling back after each strike to recharge the chakra in her hand so she could strike again, Naruto had come up with a freakish idea. Now she built up a hefty amount of chakra that she would push into her hand. When she now struck at an opponents tenketsu she would cause the mass of chakra to pulse like a strobe light. Each pulse was capable of closing a tenketsu. She could push out up to 32 pulses with each forward sweep.

It had its limitations though. She could not, as of yet, use it more than a four or five times in succession without her own hand going numb and disabling her own ability to do juken strikes. Also she wasn't able to hit a large number of tenketsu spread out over a wide area. For targeting and closing tenketsu points in a persons hand though, it was ideal. That one time she had hit ten of Narutos tenketsu while he was using his 'tenketsu spin' technique was because of this. Given enough time and practice they were both sure that she would be able knock out more. They both thought that she would probably be able to close enough tenketsu to disable him faster than he would be able to reopen them. Trust Naruto to figure out a counter attack for her that would eventually allow her to best his own counter to the Byakugan. Granted it didn't stop the headache she got when facing that spin technique but they were working that too.

Naruto eyed the three Hyuga men intently but for some reason they hung back. The elder and Neji seemed eager to engage but each time they would make the slightest motion forward Hiashi would signal them to stand down. Naruto focused his attention on Hiashi then since he was obviously calling the shots just now. Although Hiashi would occasionally glance to Naruto it was obvious even to the villages knucklehead ninja that Hiashi's attention was focused entirely on the face off between Hinata and Hanabi.

Naruto caught the sudden movement of Hanabi out of the corner of his eye as she retreated first from Hinata and then from himself. He didn't get any signal from Hinata so he didn't worry about the younger girl. He didn't pay attention to any of the words between Hinata and Hanabi since his attention was completely tied up in watching Hiashi but he caught a satisfied half laugh from Hinata as he heard Hanabi retreat even further. Hiashi's hand twitched and suddenly the three Hyuga men moved as one. They all called out 'Hakke Kuushou' together. Naruto smiled as he quickly focused his own chakra. Reaching out he spun a mass of air around both himself and Hinata.

"Back." He whispered to Hinata and as he stepped back she matched his movement and stepped forward, somehow they always knew when they were talking to each other.

Naruto pushed more of his own chakra into the small but intense mass of air he created and had wrapped around them. As the three blasts from the Hyuga combined into one and slammed into his air mass he took control of their incoming wind attack. He caused it to shift to his side and redirected the attack to flow around himself and Hinata. He then sent it to fly back to Hiashi, who was the center Hyuga in front of him. Hiashi threw his arms forward in a double block and focused his own chakra causing the blast of air to split and flow around him.

Hinata felt the deflected attack and smiled before whispering to Naruto.

"Hanabi's right hand is disabled, Neji is about to attack on your left, switch."

"Gotcha." He replied, inaudible to anyone but Hinata.

Hinata twisted and stepped back with her right leg as Naruto turned himself and lifted his left leg to step over her backward moving leg. They both turned to their right fluidly switching places. Neji lunged forward without his Byakugan, using a regular taijutsu open palm strike, intending to strike Naruto with the heel of his hand. As the couple switched places, he shifted his strike to Hinata, intending to hit her arm. Hinata though was using her Byakugan and her hand blurred forward as she repeated the same attack against Neji that she had used against Hanabi. Neji's fingers were curled over themselves for the strike and her first sweep across his palm only closed the lower 12 tenketsu points on his hand.

Neji's eyes opened wide in surprise and his hand opened reflexively as he pulled it back with a half step. Hinata smiled as she quickly moved forward, matching his half step retreat to sweep his fully open hand and close the now exposed upper eleven tenketsu of his hand. Neji jumped back this time, shaking his numb hand as Hinata took a half step back herself to be right against Naruto. She concentrated on her hand and smiled, even though she had pulled off two strobe strikes against Neji, because she had only generated 16 pulses each time she was sure that she still had a few full strobe strikes left.

Not wasting the opportunity that Hinata gave him, Naruto called up a Rasengan when he was turning and switching places with Hinata. Shifting some of his chakra into wind he called out.

"Fuuton Rasengan Vortex!"

A compact but extremely intense vortex of air roughly four inches across grew from the front of the Rasengan. Naruto concentrated as he struck forward greatly extending the vortex as he pushed the power of the Rasengan into the vortex. Hanabi was distracted, still shaking her numb right hand. She looked up in time to scream out for a moment as the vortex almost immediately jumped from Narutos hand across the three meters separating them to hit her in the stomach. Hanabi was knocked back several meters and she tucked herself into a tumbling roll as she fell into the dirt to absorb some of the impact. She quickly jumped to her feet and glared at the smiling Naruto as she fought to regain her breath.

Hiashi and the elder both scowled as they saw Hanabi hurled into the ground. Although this new attack of Narutos wasn't life threatening, it wasn't something they would be able to deflect as easily as a typical wind strike. Well it wasn't life threatening with the power Naruto had put into it when he used it against Hanabi, Hiashi thought as his scowl deepened.

Before Hiashi could decide what to attempt next the Hyuga elder activated his Byakugan and struck towards Hinata.

"Space." She whispered to Naruto, who took a step forward at her word.

Using the additional space between herself and Naruto, Hinata easily dodged the elders first attack. It was close and she felt the tingle of chakra from the elders missed strike as her own arm went forward going in low under his. As he pulled his arm back to re-chamber another juken strike he felt a strange rapid pulse of chakra along the entire length of the bottom of his forearm as he felt an odd almost caress of her fingertips as they grazed him. His eyes widened in shock as he realized that all of his tenketsu along the bottom of his forearm were suddenly closed. In that brief moment of shock she struck forward again with her fingertip and using the same swirling pattern she used against Hanabi, she closed all of the elders tenketsu in his right hand.

"I'm pretty much finished with the 'juken strobe'. She whispered as she and the elder separated and he retreated.

"Didn't get your dad though." Naruto grimaced

"No, Hanabi's right hand, Neji's left and the elders right hand and lower forearm. They won't be able to use juken strikes with their dominant hands for at least a half hour but they should all be able still perform jutsu. I'm pretty sure that I can get off one more strobe but I'll lose my regular juken strikes."

"Don't worry about it then. I think it's better to keep the regular juken."

"Of course, silly." Even in the heat of a fight his habit of stating something obvious brought a small smile to her lips.

The elder quickly moved to Hiashi.

"She closed all of the tenketsu in my hand with that one sweep!" The old man hissed. "She can do the lost rapid pulse technique! Did you tell her about that?"

"No. I was starting to believe it was a myth." Hiashi whispered back as he looked to his daughter and his eyes widened. "Nobody has been able to do that for over a hundred years." The elder exclaimed.

Hiashi quickly activated his Byakugan for a moment to look at Neji and Hanabi.

"She got Neji's left hand and Hanabi's right as well." Hiashi murmured to the elder.

"She also got my lower forearm. It's certainly no myth."

"It's annoying but it shouldn't slow any of you down too much. The three of you have only lost the juken strikes with those hands. It looks like he was right and she is much faster, so we likely won't be able to pull any juken strikes against her without a lot of luck and that damn spin technique of his makes juken useless against him. So I guess what we have lost doesn't really put us at much more of a disadvantage than we already were. I'm sure Neji and Hanabi will have already come to that conclusion. You've gotten slower over the years so simply avoid any close combat with her from now on. I should be able to elude such strikes from her using the higher level blocking techniques. I haven't taught her any of that. I just hope she hasn't figured any of it out on her own."

Hiashi scowled as he and the elder separated. The elder smoothly moved to the side while Hiashi moved to face his daughter.

Naruto spun to the side and felt Hinata jump to his other side and do a half spin to match. He put up a flurry of blocks towards the strikes flying towards him from Neji, twisted his arm just so and for a change he actually managed to grasp Neji's still slightly numb arm. Pulling back into the flow of Neji's strike Naruto tossed him into the air, towards the Hyuga elder. He glanced to Hanabi who still seemed hesitant to face either him or Hinata and then stole a quick glance to see Hinata and her father exchange a furious set of strikes and blocks. He concentrated and with a single seal he called out for another bunshin. The clone slowed the elders advance long enough for Naruto to drop back into another loose ready stance before it disappeared into a poof of smoke from one of Neji's barrages. Naruto was slightly surprised at how quickly Neji regained his footing.

Before the clone completely vanished though, Naruto had called up a new Rasengan and quickly fired off one of his new Fuuton Rasengan Vortex attacks. This one though was wider and a bit more intense than the one he had hit Hanabi with earlier and he aimed it low. The leftover fading smoke from the dispersal of his clone actually hid the new attack and Naruto managed to sweep the legs of both the elder and Neji out from under them. He knew he would have never been able to pull that one off if they had been using the Byakugan. He smiled as those two opponents were tossed a good 5 meters away, even though they were quickly getting back up. He glanced back and saw that Hiashi had also retreated a good bit along with Hanabi.

"Ready to fly?" He whispered and Hinata gave him a barely perceptible nod.

He called up two Rasengans and turned while crouching low, so his left side was facing Hiashi and Hanabi while his right was towards Neji and the elder. Hinata turned fluidly with him, keeping her back to his. As he shifted both of the Rasengans into vortexes she picked up her left leg and stepped onto his right knee. Naruto smiled at the sight of Hanabi's flinch when she realized he had a new vortex pointed in her general direction. Hinata suddenly leaped off of Narutos knee, into the air with a chakra enhanced jump to go flying off in the general direction of Neji and the elder. Naruto sank to nearly sit on the ground before he reached out and released both vortexes, a tight rapidly spinning one, roughly aimed towards Hiashi and Hanabi and a wider gentler one that he focused into the small of Hinatas back. As the softened blast of air caught her, Hinata flew further, higher and faster than anyone could possibly do by merely jumping, even with using chakra. Approaching Neji first she tossed several kunai his way before turning slightly and firing of several more towards the elder. Both of her opponents Byakugan flashed on for a moment enabling them to easily intercept the half dozen kunai she had flung their way.

Naruto's current opponents both easily dodged his other vortex of air as it flowed between them, Hanabi obviously over reacting to the attack that Naruto was using as a distraction. She looked up at his obvious enjoyment of her nervousness as he stood up and her face flushed with anger. Hanabi felt her anger burn away her nervousness, she was letting him get the better of her like this and she didn't like it at all. With the mere seconds that gave him though Naruto sent a hefty amount of his chakra up into the link towards Hinata.

Hinata almost seemed to hang in the air as time seemed to slow around her. Her attack was a bust and she knew she would be in trouble flying through the air like that but she felt Narutos chakra come flowing through the link and she sent some of her own chakra back down the link. She wrapped it around Narutos chakra and she then 'locked' the link to her body. She glanced down and saw that both Neji and the elder had thrown several kunai of their own that would shortly intercept her in the air.

Once Naruto felt Hinatas chakra flowing and coiling around his own across the link, he dropped back down for a moment and rotated his arm, wrapping that odd chakra link they shared around his right forearm before grasping the link itself with both of his hands and sending a surge of chakra to his arms to enhance his strength he pulled on the link both physically to reel it in quickly and mentally to make it rapidly grow shorter. Hinata spun herself around as she felt the first tug of Narutos, wrapping the chakra link around herself. If she hadn't locked it a moment before it would not have been able to wrap around herself.

She suddenly came to an abrupt halt in mid air and before their opponents stunned eyes, she changed directions in mid air and went flying in the opposite direction, back towards Naruto. The kunai that Neji and the elder had flung at her passed harmlessly in front of her by nearly a full meter. All of the Hyuga glowered at Naruto as Hinata continued her flight to him. He easily caught her into his arms and she unlocked the link as her feet first touched the ground. As he grasped her left hand with his own left hand he twisted and spun her into the general direction of her father.

They looked like ballroom dancers for just a moment Hiashi thought as he watched his daughter come to an abrupt halt to face him as the two of them used that final spin to absorb the last of her momentum from her flight. He looked on impressed as they let go of each others hands and turned before each dropped back into loose ready stances, back to back once again. He glanced to his younger daughter and frowned at the reddish color that was already fading from her face. Not many people knew that both of his daughters faces could easily flush under the right circumstances. While Hinatas were more common and fueled by her own embarrassment, Hanabi's flushes were generally rare. Unlike her sister though Hanabi had never flushed with embarrassment, any time his younger daughters face turned red it meant she was furious. Hiashi had trouble believing the smiling blonde shinobi before them was able to bring forth his younger daughters anger so easily. The young man was full of surprises.

Hiashi called out for them to pull back and gave an odd hand signal. All four Hyuga each pulled out a shuriken, threw them and ran through an identical series of blurred hand seals. Naruto and Hinata heard all four call out 'Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu.' The four shuriken multiplied into dozens and dozens of Shuriken each.

"Duck." Hinata called out in a quiet whisper, to which Naruto tucked down and low. "Shugo Hakke Rokujyuu Yonshou." She called out as she entered into a slow fluid spin around Naruto, her arms blurring.

Her chakra intensified and nearly became visible to the people watching in the stadium. The four Hyuga were surprised at how intense Hinatas chakra looked through using their Byakugan for a brief moment and before their eyes a web of her chakra encircled the couple. Every single shuriken shattered as they encountered Hinatas Shugo Hakke. There was a decent sized cloud of shadow smoke resulting from the destruction of the cloned shuriken. The four original shuriken each hit the ground, each shattered into dozens of pieces.

"Well we can play that game too." Naruto smiled.

He gave an obscure signal to Hinata. She smiled in return, this time she was really going to fly. They spun to face each other and she reached down to put her hands on his shoulders since he was still crouching from when she had told him to duck. As he intertwined his fingers she stepped onto his hands with both feet. Sending a surge of chakra to his arms he flung her high into the air. At the same time she had sent a surge of chakra to her legs further increasing the power of her jump that helped shoot her even higher into the air. Naruto raised his arms and with only a few quick seals, he called forth a spinning and interwoven double vortex of counter rotating air above him. This one was larger and yet less intense than the Rasengan driven vortex he had hit Hanabi with earlier. It was also a good deal larger than the one he had used to launch Hinata before. Naruto increased his flow of chakra to this jutsu and the double vortex of air jumped up under Hinata as she rapidly gained altitude. It wrapped around her legs and pushed her even higher into the air.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Everyone heard her call out as she flew past the top of the viewing stands.

Suddenly there were an even dozen Hinatas still flying straight up. The real Hinata quickly passed real shuriken to each of the clones in a blur of movement while drawing on some of Narutos chakra through the link. Each tossed their shuriken to strike at the Hyuga below and they all made a series of matching hand seals that happened to be an exact match to the ones the Hyuga below had just used.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The dozen Hinatas called out.

The sky actually darkened slightly from the incredible numbers of shuriken that popped into existence high above the stadium floor. As the stunning amount of shuriken closed in on the Hyuga below all four of them began to spin and each generated their own Kaiten. Naruto quickly produced two dozen shadow clones of his own and surrounded himself with them. All of Naruto's clones immediately pulled out a pair of kunai and dropped into a loose ready stance, their kunai held at the ready, one in each hand. Naruto himself focused his attention on Hinata as she and her clones began to fall. As soon as the four Kaitens destroyed or deflected the vast number of shuriken Hinata dispersed her clones and relaxed as she fell. Once Naruto saw her clones disappear he began to generate a new double vortex of air and smoothly sent it upwards to meet her. Naruto heard numerous clangs around him and a few pops as his clones repelled any shuriken that the four Kaitens deflected their way. Several of the clones disappeared, although it took several hits to disperse each of those. Naruto didn't care, the clones had given him plenty of time to wrap the new vortex around Hinata allowing him to steady her and begin slowing her fall.

In a short time Hinata loosely fell into his arms and she smoothly shifted back to a ready position back to back with Naruto once again. Naruto dispersed the remaining clones, generated a single Rasengan that he simply held ready and found himself staring at a smoldering Hiashi once again.

"So Hanabi knows the Kaiten as well?" Naruto asked Hinata.

"You know that I had suspected but I wasn't sure until just now." Hinata replied.

"Well doesn't change anything. Still not bad for someone not even out of the academy yet." Naruto replied as he smiled at Hiashi's frown.

Hiashi knew that the two of them were communicating but for the life of him he could not hear or even see the words, not even using quick flashes of the Byakugan helped. The two of them barely moved their lips at all and he was beginning to think even if he stood next to them he wouldn't be able to hear actual words pass between them. It was another strange thing about facing the two of them that had been making him slightly uneasy since the very beginning of the fight. He glanced to the elder and he knew the old man had noticed nothing in this regard. He was far too focused on Naruto, nearly to the point where the old man wasn't even seeing Hinata. They would either have to quickly finish this fight or he was going to have to find some way to open the old mans eyes to the threat Hinata posed or they would certainly loose this fight.

Hiashi signaled the elder and the older man came running. Hiashi outlined a quick plan and for the first time since this fight started the old man smiled.

Narutos eyes widened as he saw the massive fireball come flying towards him. Hiashi and the elder had masterfully combined a powerful fire technique from Hiashi with an elemental wind technique from the elder. The flames were ridiculously bright and Naruto was already feeling the heat as it approached him. Narutos instincts took over and he supercharged the Rasengan he had waiting. He quickly shifted his concentration on the Rasengan causing it to nearly instantly grow blades of wind as he channeled more and more of his chakra into making quite possibly the largest Rasen-Shuriken he had ever made. The wind howled around him and Hinata and they both felt the shockwave as Hiashi and the elders wind/fire attack slammed into the Rasen-Shuriken. As Naruto poured more and more power into this specialty jutsu of his, he began to subtly change the blades of wind streaming off of the now screaming orb of wind and chakra spinning in his hand. The wind from Narutos Jutsu supercharged the incoming attack and the flames shifted from bright red to incandescent orange. Naruto heard Hinata gasp as the orange flames began to appear around the edges of this new variation of the Rasen-Shuriken. As the wind screamed past the young couple, flowing into and feeding his jutsu, Naruto smiled through his gritted teeth.

The constant stream of air was keeping the heat of the attack away from them while this new Rasen-Shuriken basically stopped Hiashi's attack dead in its tracks. Normally the last thing you would ever want to do against a fire attack would be to try to counter it with a wind based jutsu but deep down inside Naruto knew that every jutsu had a limit and a wind jutsu could overpower a fire jutsu, provided the wind was much more powerful than the fire. In this case Naruto actually had two advantages, in addition to his own ridiculously high levels of chakra, the elder had already enhanced Hiashi's fire jutsu with wind so Naruto wouldn't need as much wind to break up the fire jutsu. At least he fervently hoped that was the case as he poured more and more power into the spinning mass of chakra and wind. Once again Naruto felt inspiration and he focused some of his chakra into the very front of his jutsu. A spike of nearly solid air formed in the front center of the Rasen-Shuriken and quickly grew several feet to pierce the center of the still pressing fire ball. Naruto felt the change in the wind as the tip of the air spike emerged from the other side of the huge glowing ball of flames. Concentrating a powerful surge of unstabilized raw chakra into the carefully balanced spinning chakra and wind structure, Naruto intentionally caused his jutsu to basically shatter. It was like being in the center of a fireworks explosion, a very large fireworks explosion. Small pieces of fire flew off in thousands of directions away from Naruto and Hinata, harmlessly showering across nearly half the stadium. Naruto looked up and smiled as hundreds arced over the stadium wall to shine above a small section of the village before they burned out and faded from sight. He now suddenly regretted that they weren't fighting at night, that would have looked really cool at night he was thinking.

As the smoke cleared there was a brief and strangely quiet pause to the battle. Naruto glared at Hiashi and the elder with his wild smile, both looked back totally stunned. Hinata suppressed the urge to breath a loud sigh of relief as she faced off against the also stunned Hanabi and Neji. Everyone in the stadium seats above was also stunned into silence, except Jiraiya, he had a smug smile on his face.

"Next time a simple kawarimi jutsu would be a better choice!' Hinata hissed/whispered to Naruto, who's feral grin to Hiashi and the elder shifted to sheepish embarrassment from her words.

"But Hinata-chan, that was so cool!" He whispered back still with his sheepish smile.

"Silly." She gave a slight sigh and rolled her eyes even though she was smiling inside.

"Damn, he's simply too powerful." The elder hissed to Hiashi.

"You are right, we should avoid fire jutsus from now on. If he had the time to actually give some thought to that counter, he probably could have reflected that attack back to us." Hiashi replied with his own whisper.

"What do you mean?!" The elder turned to Hiashi in shock.

"I've been watching him a lot lately and in a few limited ways, he is easy to read for me now. Judging by the looks on his face during our attack, he came up with that defense on the fly just now. Going by his history, if we try something similar again he will likely realize that he can use that jutsu to reflect such attacks back to us. Even worse if the reflected attack is a fire jutsu it will be even more powerful with the wind he commands."

"Well if you are finding him so much easier to read, explain why his expression changed just now." The elder demanded.

Hiashi sighed mentally to himself, he was beginning to believe that in many ways the elder was blind. "That's easy. I didn't hear her words but I'd say that Hinata basically reprimanded him for wasting chakra."

"You're kidding. I didn't see that."

"You have to stop focusing on just him and watch them both. We will certainly lose here today if you continue to cling to the mistaken notion that she is weak. We were wrong about her. Don't forget, genetically speaking she is closer to Neji than a half sister. I am beginning to think that she is basically his equal in all aspects. If we had handled her differently after her mother died she would likely have been much different. It may very well be that the only reason she appeared weak all those years was my own fault. Once you factor in the effect Naruto has on her, she may very well be the most powerful Hyuga ever." Hiashi's voice softly faded as he spoke those last words. He didn't want to believe those last words and he knew none of the other Hyuga would but something about them rang true.

"I still don't understand how someone so young is so skilled with nature manipulation. He was always supposed to be some sort of idiot and not only do his skills at manipulating wind exceed Neji's but they also exceed my own and they are at the very least equal to yours if not greater." The elder grumbled, he was not happy about Hiashi's words concerning Hinata.

"It is most disturbing. Even if he was a naturally gifted wind master, I have no explanation to his skill level. I read about his Rasen-Shuriken but I doubted the report Tsunade gave me. I assumed the notes of hers she had given me were embellishing the young man, it's no secret she favors him. I thought it convenient that this powerful special jutsu of his was forbidden. Now I suspect she was understating his abilities. For him to take that jutsu and modify it on the fly in the face of an attack..." Hiashi paused for a moment. "It's almost as if he a couple of lifetimes worth of experience manipulating wind."

Hiashi glanced to the stadium as the elder moved forward to seemingly join Neji and Hanabi in attacking the couple when in reality he was going to warn the other two Hyuga against using any fire jutsu against Naruto. Hiashi continued looking at Tsunade, Jiraiya and finally Kakashi.

'_Something was missing from the reports, it was obvious but what?'_ Hiashi thought as he looked back to Naruto and Hinata.

One thing he had always noticed and admired about his daughter was her fluid grace. He cursed himself that he had never once gave her a positive word about it, he was too pig headed about her inability to effectively use that grace during their family training over the years. If it hadn't reminded him of his wife so much, things might have been different. Hanabi may have resembled their mother more physically but Hinata was the one who moved like their mother. Now watching her fight with Naruto not only was she finally fully utilizing that grace of hers to fight her family but he noticed that some of that grace had somehow been imbued in the blonde. It wasn't so much that he had gained any real grace but that he simply followed and flowed with Hinata smoothly. It was as if they had both been working together like this for years. He cursed himself again, he was missing something, something important and apparently something that Tsunade, Jiraiya and Kakashi knew. Hiashi's head spun as he focused his attention almost completely on Kakashi. Kakashi, the copy ninja. Hiashi scowled as he grew angry at himself, he had a vague memory of Kakashi saying something years ago during a mission they had been on together. Something he had forgotten about when Kakashi had said it. Again he cursed himself, it had been around the time his wife passed away. He didn't make any note of whatever Kakashi had said at the time and promptly forgot it. Despite the cautions about Kage Bunshin he had been taught when very young, the Kage Bunshin technique was rare so whatever Kakashi had said just wasn't important enough to remember at the time.

Hiashi glanced back at Naruto and Hinata as suddenly twenty of each of them appeared. Hiashi was stunned, his daughter should not have the chakra to maintain twenty shadow clones and he quickly activated and then deactivated his Byakugan. That quick glance assured him that they were solid clones not mere Bunshin. Yet it was obvious from her flow of chakra that she had called forth her own clones. It was that link Hiashi realized, Naruto could shunt some of his chakra to Hinata for her own use. Despite his words about her just a moment ago he didn't think she had enough power to pull off so many shadow clones after the fighting of today. Actually to be fair he probably didn't either after yesterday, the Kage Bunshin tended to take a lot of chakra. Hiashi was tempted to punch himself in the head repeatedly to make the faded half memory return, it involved the clones somehow.

Suddenly it was there, he remembered Kakashi's voice from all those years ago.

'_The knowledge and experience gained by the clones transfers back to the original when the jutsu is dispersed.'_

For the fourth time in mere minutes Hiashi cursed himself. That had been an extremely important bit of information that should have gone into the family notes about the shadow clones.

'_A week.'_ He thought to himself. _'They only had a week. Although…Naruto could call up and maintain over a thousand clones. Training with that many clones for a week would be like twenty years of experience. Surely his daughter could not do the same even with the link.'_

Hiashi stared at the two as they moved together, so sure, so fluid, so familiar. While not perfect they had an incredible synergy together. Enough so that they were very nearly making a mockery of the attacks Neji and Hanabi had been attempting while Hiashi stayed back. If not for their ages and knowing their history he would have sworn that they had been working together like this for years.

"Damn!" Hiashi finally said out loud as he watched Neji and Hanabi actually destroy a few sets of the couples clones before the two smiled and released the jutsu causing Hanabi and Neji to stumble.

The elder ran forward and attempted a full frontal taijutsu attack against Naruto. For a minute or so the two seemed roughly equal. The elder actually scored a glancing blow to Narutos cheek but he rolled with the punch. In a move that nearly completely surprised the old man, Hinata had rolled along with Naruto, smoothly disengaging from the exchange of blows she had been trading with the still slightly off balance Hanabi while she had also been maneuvering to keep Neji out of range. She quickly fired off a standard juken strike at the old man. This instance the old man escaped a closed tenketsu but he felt the tingle of chakra while Hanabi stumbled as Naruto flashed one of his most feral grins at her before turning away. Pulling back a bit the elder was unsettled slightly as Naruto spun back to face him still smiling. The brief hesitation was all Naruto needed though and he managed to land a good series of punches to the old mans chest and stomach. Naruto pulled back as the old man appeared to be reeling to quickly generate one of his standard Rasengans. Blurring slightly, he struck forward planting the Rasengan into the old mans stomach. There was a flash and Naruto practically growled in irritation as the log that suddenly appeared exploded into a shower of splinters as his Rasengan went off in the log instead of the old man.

"You got lucky there." Hiashi said as the elder emerged from the brush.

"Yes. He is quicker than I am. I can not effectively use taijutsu against him." The old man said as he scowled while wincing from the pains from Narutos strikes. "We are running out of options."

"We're pushing them hard Hinata." Naruto said as he smiled to her.

"Yes we are." She smiled. "Hanabi is the most vulnerable right now."

"Maybe, I don't know. I think I really shook up the elder just now."

"No, trust me, she is definitely the most vulnerable right now."

"O.k. then, the show is all yours." He smiled, he knew he would enjoy this.

Hinata concentrated and began to weave a very subtle and multi layered jutsu, that she began to anchor to Hanabi. Pulling off a genjutsu against a Byakugan user was usually considered nearly impossible. Although there were some that would work against the famed Hyuga eyes. Of course Hinata had studied those types of genjutsu along with many others under Kurenai's guidance during the past few years. She also had the added advantage that none of her family would really use their Byakugan much at this time. Naruto had been constantly using his tenketsu spin technique through the fight. It was not only effective protection against juken strikes but the Byakugan tended to be irresistibly drawn to it. Only Hinata had enough experience with him and his spin technique to be able force her eyes not to drift into watching his spinning tenketsu despite their headache inducing qualities. So other than Hinata the Hyuga here simply used their Byakugan in brief spurts. That gave the couple an incredible advantage when it came to genjutsu, despite Narutos near total lack of any genjutsu abilities. Hinatas training under one of the best genjutsu users in the village certainly didn't hurt either.

Hinata began to weave a second genjutsu over the first that she also anchored to Hanabi that she set Naruto to be the primary focus of.

"Ready?" She asked her boyfriend.

"You better belei-" He started to say.

"Don't say it" She hissed cutting him off.

Naruto smiled sheepishly once again, for only an instant though before calling forth a few dozen Clones. As they appeared he pulled a fast henge on half of them so they looked like Hinata. Sending roughly two thirds of them to attack Hiashi, the elder and Neji while the remaining third was sent to attack Hanabi. While all the confusion of smoke and clones was going on Hinata triggered her first genjutsu she had anchored to Hanabi and as it settled into place Hanabi would see Hinata when she looked at Neji and would see Neji as she looked at Hinata.

The disguised Hinata ran up and seemingly attacked one of Narutos clones that looked like herself and the clone dropped to the ground. The Naruto clone shifted its Hinata henge slightly as it fell so it looked like Hinata was mortally wounded. The real Naruto turned and gave out a roar of anger while Hinata triggered her second genjutsu.

Hanabi gasped in horror as she looked at Naruto and Hinatas genjutsu took hold of her mind. To Hanabi it seemed that all of the clones had vanished leaving just Naruto standing over a bloodied Hinata. Although he still looked the same to everyone else as they fought his clones. Hanabi's eyes grew wide as she suddenly saw red chakra pouring out of the young man and her heart froze as she looked into his eyes and saw them turn to red slit eyes like that of some horrible animal. A massive red and purple Rasengan appeared in this monsters hand and she saw the beginnings of that nasty vortex attack he had hit her with earlier form. Although now she feared this one would tear her apart. She turned to what she thought was Neji, pale and scared. The image of Neji seemed oddly relaxed so she quickly moved to him and get away from the monstrous Naruto.

Hanabi gasped out in shock as what she thought to be Neji turned and attacked her using Hakke Rokujuuyonshou. She couldn't help but look at the horrifying image of Naruto despite the barrage of juken strikes and for a moment she was baffled as the red flames vanished, leaving the blonde standing there with that damn annoying grin of his while his clones fought the other Hyuga.

'_Genjutsu!'_ Hanabi thought in shock that she had been fooled.

She was thrown back and after the last juken strike, she collapsed into the dirt, looking up to see Neji's features seem to melt away to reveal her sister Hinata. Hinata had a look of sad satisfaction on her face as her sister struggled to her knees.

'_A second genjutsu!'_ Hanabi thought as she felt appalled with herself that her sister had fooled her twice.

Naruto and Hinata retreated a bit and he dispersed his clones, giving Neji the opportunity to retrieve Hanabi. They held back waiting to see what the rest of the Hyuga would do now that they were down to three members that could fight effectively.

"Ready to give up yet?" Naruto called out.

"Of course not!" The elder yelled back, nearly screaming.

"We're going to take him down next, right?" Naruto whispered to Hinata.

"He is the most vulnerable of the three that can still fight." She replied. "Wait a minute until we see what they're going to do with Hanabi. Remember we don't want to hurt anyone after all."

Naruto and Hinata looked on puzzled as Hanabi stood before Hiashi as he activated his Byakugan for a moment to look her over.

"Forgive me Hanabi, this is going to hurt quite a bit." Hiashi said sadly.

"I'm sorry father." Hanabi choked out through tears. "I allowed her to use a genjutsu on me and she defeated me."

"That doesn't matter right now. It is obvious that we were mistaken about Hinata. Now I need you to hold still. As I said this is going to hurt but it will allow you to continue to fight."

Hiashi glanced at Hinata.

'_She pulled off a genjutsu that worked on Hanabi while all of that was going on? Despite her age and even without the Byakugan Hanabi should have felt a genjutsu. Damn, Hinata has changed even more than I suspected.'_ Hiashi thought before turning back to Hanabi.

Hiashi concentrated his chakra and activated his Byakugan. He put his finger tip right up against one of Hanabi's closed tenketsu and forced his chakra into the closed point. He quickly pulled his chakra back out and Hanabi gasped in pain. He pushed and pulled another half dozen times, each time putting a little more chakra into his daughters closed tenketsu. Hanabi gasped slightly louder with each pass of chakra as the pain increased slightly each time. With the seventh and final pass her tenketsu popped back open.

Hiashi deactivated his Byakugan and glanced over to Naruto and Hinata. They seemed content to simply watch and not press their obvious advantage. Still just in case they changed their mind, he whispered to the elder and Neji.

"Cover me, I'm going to need a bit more time."

"Of course Hiashi-sama." Neji replied while the elder merely grunted.

Hiashi scowled at the old man but reactivated his Byakugan and shifted over to a second tenketsu on Hanabi and repeated the process. Once he had five points reopened he placed his fingers and thumb over the five points and proceeded to push and pull his chakra through a dozen tenketsu points near his hand. Again it took seven passes to pop open those dozen points and Hanabi screamed out in pain while tears streamed down her face. Hiashi gritted his teeth but he shifted his hand and fingers to cover five of the newly opened tenketsu and repeated the process. For this third round he was able to work on twenty four nearby closed points at the same time. Again it took seven passes and as Hanabi screamed out her vision swam. Hiashi's next two rounds he was able to open twenty five each time, although he had to use both hands. One last round using both hands and he was able to open the last eleven points that Hinata had closed. Hanabi let out one last scream as she collapsed to her knees. Hiashi grasped her shoulder and crouched to prevent her from falling any further.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked Hinata.

"He re-opened her tenketsu." She said as she narrowed her eyes. "That technique is not often used since it takes too long to do during a battle and it is incredibly painful. Generally it is considered better to allow them to open on their own. I'm not sure if Hanabi will be able to fight anymore though even with her tenketsu open. Unless one of them knows some medical jutsu."

"Sounds like you know a lot about it though." Naruto said, there was something in her voice when she spoke about this technique that bothered him.

"Never mind, this isn't the place to discuss it." She answered.

"Neji, I do believe that even though you are not a medical ninja you did have a basic emergency medical jutsu class correct?"

"Yes sir." Neji had been quiet and oddly subdued throughout the fight today but Hiashi wasn't going to worry about it now.

"Did you learn how to transfer chakra from one person to another?'

"Yes but I don't think I'll be able to do much if they attack."

"Don't worry about them." Hiashi glanced at the couple. "I think they would like to continue the fight, after all it has pretty much been going their way. Now I want you to transfer some chakra from each of us into Hanabi. Try to balance all of us so we all have the same amount of chakra."

"That shouldn't be too hard sir." Neji answered.

"Good once we're all about equal. I'd like all of us to use the Kaiten against them." Hiashi said giving their opponents one final glance as he finished his sentence.

"So what's up?" Naruto asked.

"I think they're going to use the Kaiten against us." Hinata answered.

"Cool, we can use that awesome finishing move for sure then!"

Naruto was practically bubbling with excitement as the Hyuga finished up and began to move around them again. Both Naruto and Hinata smiled as everyone settled into place.

Naruto and Hinata stood still for a moment back to back. The other four Hyuga had them surrounded and stood still themselves for a moment as everyone waited to see who would make the first move. It seemed like all six of them were near the end of their rope, this couldn't go on much longer. It was one of those instances of crystal clear clarity. Naruto and Hinata knew what was most likely to come next. They had been slightly surprised earlier when Hanabi had pulled off a Kaiten to escape one of Hinatas attacks but they had discussed and prepared for the possibility. With typical attacks neutralized along with the typical Hyuga techniques and even elemental attacks rendered useless, there was not many options left to the four Hyuga. Since all four of their opponents could pull off that specialized Hyuga jutsu, after hearing that single word as they finished with Hanabi it made sense that in this position that they would try to hit the pair from four sides using the Kaiten. Oddly enough both Naruto and Hinata smiled, even odder Neji was the only one of the four who became uneasy at the sight of the two of them smiling. Still when Hiashi signaled he went along with the planned attack.

Sure enough all four of their opponents ran towards the couple, jumped in the air as they began to spin. Each formed an incredible bubble of spinning chakra before they hit the ground. Ever so slowly the four spinning spheres edged closer and closer to Naruto and Hinata, the bubbles had slowed after they first hit the ground but they still continued to grind on. Hinata signaled Naruto and with a wild grin he quickly formed a basic Rasengan and with a chakra boost, leaped straight up into the air above Hinata. As soon as he cleared the immediate area Hinata began to spin herself forming her own Kaiten. Naruto flipped over in the air and subtly altered his Rasengan. The small gathering of people in the stands gasped out as one when the compact orb of spinning chakra impacted the very top of Hinatas spinning Kaiten. This time though instead of punching through her Kaiten, Narutos Rasengan linked itself to her Kaiten as Naruto matched the two spinning masses of chakra exactly. Standing upside down on the one hand that supported his Rasengan while Hinata spun below him, Naruto began to change some of his chakra into elemental wind energy.

Hinata knew what was going on above her and before she could tire out she began to draw some of Narutos chakra through the link. She then began a very subtle genjutsu. It was a tricky one because she had to set it up so the Byakugan wouldn't easily detect it. Without that link this move would have been nearly impossible, she would use too much of her own chakra too quickly and her Kaiten and genjutsu would collapse before Naruto could complete his part. She gritted her teeth as the other four Kaitens collided into hers.

'_I will not fail Naruto! I will not fail myself!'_ She thought fiercely to herself.

Despite the buffeting though she felt her genjutsu slide into place and the wind energy Naruto was generating was suddenly hidden from view. The only ones who even noticed the brief flicker of Narutos wind energy coming into existence before vanishing were of course Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kurenai and Kakashi. Along with, Sakura, Shikamaru and Gai, they alone had caught the glimpse of the wind energy being molded into Narutos Rasengan. Oddly enough none of those seven bothered to release Hinatas genjutsu from themselves. This was the time of their biggest vulnerability from the times they had practiced this against her shadow clones during their training.

As the tremendous buffeting from their opponents attack shook the couple Naruto smiled as his nature manipulation began to bear fruit and an incredible mass of whirling wind began to expand off of his Rasengan and flow down around Hinatas Kaiten. Within an instant Naruto and Hinata were enveloped in a very powerful and compact tornado that began to spin faster and faster. Naruto maintained his one handed handstand while pumping more and more energy into the tornado while Hinata began to compress her Kaiten closer and closer to herself. The four attacking Hyuga were partially trapped. For them moving a spinning Kaiten was extremely difficult, the spinning tended to dig up shallow craters that got deeper the longer they maintained the jutsu, which made it harder to move. Already all four of them were in roughly half meter deep craters. Their best bet would be to retreat along the shallow channels dug into the earth behind them but while spinning even their eyes would have failed to see exactly what their opponents were doing even without Hinatas genjutsu. The desire of the four to defeat the couple also prevented them from seriously contemplating retreat so they all attempted to press Hinata even harder. Besides all four of them could sense that Hinatas Kaiten was getting slightly smaller and they mistakenly thought they were on the verge of defeating the couple.

Naruto began to expand the modified Rasengan and without adding any additional energy it quickly grew to the size of his Oodama Rasengan. He pushed it even further while wrapping the wind energy tighter and tighter to the brilliant ball of chakra. When the size of this false Oodama Rasengan matched the size of Hinatas Kaiten he modified the spinning mass so that an area of the bottom of the sphere opened up where it met the Kaiten. Sensing what he was doing Hinata also began to pull her chakra away from the area where the two jutsu met. When the hole between the two was large enough Naruto quickly opened a second hole around his hand so the Rasengan was no longer a spinning sphere but more of a spinning donut of energy. Tucking into a tight ball he dropped into the Rasengan and as he fell he pulled it down to merge with Hinatas Kaiten while she stopped spinning herself. They stretched out their arms, each arm ninety degrees apart with their palms out while they pushed up against each other, back to back once again.

There was a tremendous buffeting as his Rasengan and her Kaiten merged together. It wasn't easy for her especially since she was maintaining the Kaitens spin without spinning herself, in addition to fending off four attacking Kaitens and merging with Narutos Rasengan. While it wasn't easy for her, she smiled as she knew it would have been impossible for anyone else. This combined defense of theirs was where all the years of her developing and practicing her own Shugohakke really paid off. Naruto took to spinning chakra like a fish to water these days. That affinity of his combined with her control and unique experience allowed them to pull this off. As they stood there in the calm center of their tornado they slowly pulled their hands closer to their bodies and compressed the spinning tornado even further. As the vortex of air and chakra got tighter it spun even faster. Narutos smile shifted as a look of satisfaction gleamed in his eyes.

"Ready?" He finally spoke, his voice loud to overcome the gale force surrounding them.

"Yes!" She had to yell back as she prepared herself as Naruto began to bait their trap.

At her single word he built up an incredibly massive amount of chakra within himself, slowly letting a small amount of the massive build up leak out into the tornado in seemingly erratic spurts. The attacking Hyugas took those erratic spurts to be a sign that they were on the verge of victory so instead of collapsing their own Kaitens and retreating as their quickly depleting energy would soon demand they each dragged up the very last of their own chakra to really push one last time.

Hinata felt the push first and yelled out to Naruto.

"Now!" She screamed out as she dropped her genjutsu.

Naruto released his massive build up of chakra into their tornado jutsu. He converted nearly all of it instantly into an unbelievable surge of wind energy and used a bit of it as regular chakra to push into expanding the combination Rasen-Kaiten. As Hinata felt his chakra push into the Rasen-Kaiten she pushed much of her own chakra into the combined jutsu as well, helping force the bubble to expand even further.

The four attacking Hyuga Kaitens were immediately caught in the surge of power and wind as the tornado expanded and completely engulfed them. All four Kaitens collapsed and the four Hyuga were picked up by the wind and flung unconscious in four different directions. Hinata collapsed to her knees as their tornado faded but Naruto realized they had poured too much energy into their combined jutsu and that the lives of the four Hyuga were now in danger. As he began to build up enough chakra to leap after the flying forms before they hit the walls of the arena he saw two green blurs intercept two of the Hyuga, both on his right, one coming from behind him and the other from the stands. As Naruto began to turn to his left he saw two more blurs come leaping down from the stands. In a moment he saw that it was Jiraiya and Kakashi. All four of the unconscious Hyuga were caught before they could hit the wall and their rescuers brought them to a clear area between where Naruto and Hinata were standing and the stands.

Jiraiya looked to the victorious couple in slight shock. They were standing on top of a short pillar that was a bit more than a couple of meters or so across that rose up from the center of a shallow crater that was nearly ten meters across and nearly a meter deep. All signs of the four craters and channels made by the now unconscious Hyuga were gone, erased by the massive crater of Naruto and Hinata's combined defense. Although the hole was not nearly as impressive as the ones his orange clad student had been making with the Rasen-Shuriken, this new crater bore too much of a disturbing similarity to the massive one the young man had made out in Wind country when he took on the luminescent nine tails form. Jiraiya shuddered at the thought of all the power his student could call on.

A/N –follow up– The whole 'Kibalicious' bit is something I found over at my favorite Deviant Art artist Gabzilla's page, it was in a cartoon of hers called 'Team 8 School', number 56196121 and her name over at deviantART is actually Gabzillaz. If you haven't seen her stuff before it's well worth checking out. She's a NaruHina fan and she's got some truly great stuff. The actual 'Kibalicious' term came from a short story by juliagulia1017 (author ID 883597 here on FanFiction), titled 'Kibalicious' (story ID 3249128). It's a cute short and I just couldn't resist tossing 'Kibalicious' in. Hopefully Julie doesn't mind how I portrayed it here.


	18. Chapter 18 Battle Royale

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is the Manga books from 1 to 21 along with the first four uncut DVD box sets.

My apologies for the long wait. The bulk of this chapter was written through September and I had the rough edit done over a week ago but due to 'real life' type headaches I wasn't able to work in the corrections until now. I hope it was worth the wait.

I also apologize for the sheer size of this chapter. There's a bit of jumping back and forth since a lot of this chapter happens simultaneously. Despite how long this one was I almost feel that I shorted some of the fighting. I will never attempt to write anything along the lines of an eleven character fight ever again.

Ch 18

As the medical team checked on the four unconscious Hyuga, Naruto jumped up and screamed out in victory. Hinata breathed out a soft sigh of relief. They had won and they hadn't even seriously hurt anyone, well other than some severely bruised egos.

"I just hope nobody gives us any grief over beating up an eleven year old girl." Naruto quietly grumbled while still smiling as he settled down.

"I wouldn't worry about that, she is highly regarded in the academy." Hinata replied.

"So then what would you worry about then?" He asked as he took her hand and began to walk towards the area where everyone was sitting..

Before Hinata could reply Tsunade called out to them.

"Hold up you two, just stay right there. This isn't over yet." The Hokage yelled, causing everyone in the arena to freeze and look at her.

"You had to ask." Hinata said softly with an irritated voice, giving Naruto a small glare.

"I think we're going to do one more bout." Tsunade yelled out.

"Come on granny, I think we proved everything we needed to." Naruto yelled back.

"You may have but I want to see a little more. Lets see how you do against your peers. All you kids get down there." Tsunade smiled.

Looks of shock mixed with a few looks of dismay crossed their faces as all of the teenagers in the stands got up and with obvious reluctance made their way through the stands to take the interior stairs that led to the arena floor.

"O.K. who's first?" Naruto whispered to Hinata.

"Shikamaru is the most dangerous in the long run but he'll likely let a few of the others attack first to gather more information, we can probably focus on the others for the first few minutes of the match. Even after seeing everything yesterday and today it would be foolish to believe that we have shown everything and Shikamaru may be lazy but he is no fool." She replied as their friends disappeared into the interior of the stadium to work their way down to the stadium floor.

"We should start out with a massive amount of clones so he doesn't pin us down with his shadow possession jutsu. That'll also give us a bit of time to take out Ino before she can latch onto one of us. Although I think she'll hang back and act as a medic nin for this if we go with a mass of shadow clones. Her specialty jutsu is likely to easily disperse a clone but dealing with dozens of clones will probably wear her out quickly. Unless she leaves herself open we can deal with anyone who is aggressive first. Chouji could be tricky but his attacks tend to be slow. With a bit of luck I'll catch him in the air and I can then increase his spinning dramatically. In fact if I catch him just right I might be able to take down both Shikamaru and Ino as well if they're working together."

"What about Sakura and Sai?" She asked.

"You're probably best to face them, you can counter Sakuras insane strength with your juken, without her chakra she can't use her strength. Sai pretty much sticks to chakra constructs using ink, basically he can bring whatever he draws to life. Your Byakugan and juken should allow you to counter anything he's likely to show here. He's a root assassin so I'm sure he has plenty of other techniques but I doubt he resort to anything else. I think in this situation he'll give up before he reveals anything new."

"Root assassin?" Hinata turned to him.

"I don't know all the details yet, I'll explain what I know later."

"O.K. then about the others."

"If you can take down Sakura quickly that could let us set you up to take down Lee with a juken attack. I think he'd be most vulnerable to a henge of Sakura, he's got a massive crush on her. I'm sure that I'll have to deal with Kiba and Akamaru, I bet he'll attack me first, most likely with a Gatsuuga attack. I'm pretty sure I can easily defeat that with a regular Rasengan or two. How about Shino? If he's got enough bugs he could possibly do a number on us now. Especially if we have to start out with a mass shadow clone defense."

"I'm pretty sure that even now you have more than enough chakra to keep his colonies at bay while we deal with the others but his tactical thinking is nearly as dangerous as Shikamaru. He excels at multi level attacks. Whatever you see from him you can be sure that there is at least two more levels of attack he is directing to you. In fact I would be surprised if he didn't already have at least a colony's worth of Kikai already hidden nearby, targeting us. He's gotten into the habit of keeping at least one of his colonies outside of his body at all times, usually hidden but close enough to use in an instant. Once we have a mass of clones we should immediately pull a kawarimi with a pair and change positions."

"Can't you see them with your Byakugan?" He asked

"Usually, yes but he is familiar with that and can counter it to some degree. Stay away from the trees, they can burrow through wood surprisingly fast and he has successfully hidden them within trees from my Byakugan in the past." She replied.

"O.k. that only leaves Tenten." Naruto mused.

"I'm pretty sure that my clones can hold her off using my Shugo Hakke long enough for us to take out Shikamaru, Shino and still have enough time to disable Lee and Sakura. The two of us should simply stay out of her way. At worst we'll simply lose some clones." Hinata said softly as the first of their friends appeared in the entrance way.

Naruto and Hinata stood quietly, roughly in the center of the arena as their friends gathered near the entrance. Gai looked back and forth between the couple and the nine teenagers. This was going to be an interesting fight, his thought echoed those of everyone still up in the stands. Tsunade looked down and saw that the group of nine was not leaving the immediate area of the entrance. She simply shrugged to herself and smiled as she stood.

After a few moments of silence Tsunade suddenly yelled. "GO!"

In an instant almost all of the available arena floor space was covered with Naruto and Hinata clones. Everyone in the stadium opened their mouths in shock at the mass of clone pairs. They pulled the kawarimi that Hinata recommended exchanging places with a pair of clones. No sooner had they adjusted to their new position when a dark mass of Kikai erupted out of the ground and completely enveloped the two clones in the center of the arena.

"That's new." Hinata whispered to Naruto.

"Still, you definitely called it. I'm surprised though, I thought Kiba would strike first." He replied.

"Good one Shino!" Kiba yelled out.

"No those are clones, they have already changed their position." Shino muttered softly as his attention shifted between all of the clone pairs.

"Can the Kikai tell which are the real ones?" Shikamaru asked.

"Given time, I believe so. It will take longer since Narutos clones are especially difficult to differentiate from his original self. That precision in his clones seems to apply to Hinata as well now." Shino raised his hands as the clones his bugs had attacked disappeared and the mass of Kikai took to the air to quickly disperse.

"I think I've got them. I'm going to finish this right now before he's got a chance to recover from the last fight!" Kiba said as he signaled Akamaru.

"Kiba wait!" Shino yelled out but it was too late Kiba and Akamaru had already launched themselves into the air, quickly slipping into their specialty taijutsu attack.

Naruto smiled, he was going to enjoy this one especially. Although it was irritating that Kiba had in fact figured out which were the originals somehow. He watched the spinning forms of Kiba and Akamaru as they came flying towards him at two different angles while he generated two Rasengans. As the two twisting forms came within a mere dozen feet or so of him, aiming directly for his head, Narutos hands blurred. He brought each hand up from his side in a fluid motion, crossing each over his chest before rotating his hands and stretching out to impact each Rasengan onto each approaching figure as their Gatsuuga attack enveloped them.

There was a loud double 'crack' as the double Rasengan stopped Kiba and Akamaru in their tracks. The two were knocked out of their Gatsuuga, hurled back along the same path they had attacked from before they smacked into the ground and went skidding into the underbrush near the edges of the arena. Both Kiba and Akamaru quickly bounced to their feet, each sporting a bloody nose and both looking decidedly unsteady as the tried to regain their bearings.

"Chouji, extending spike attack, vector towards the Naruto and Hinata that Kiba just attacked! Ino go see if you can get Kiba back into action. Man I can't believe their clones are strong enough to go through a kawarimi without dispersing. They could be anywhere now. Man, this is going to be a real drag." Shikamaru said as he pulled out a couple of kunai and attempted to watch every one of the attackers and how they fared against the mass of clones that the originals were somewhere hiding in. As he looked around he realized that Shino had somehow vanished without him seeing where or how the bug user had gone.

'_Damn, we are not working together and they'll demolish us all if we continue fighting like this. Naruto is likely to be right in the thick of things. Any of Narutos clones that seem to be hanging back are likely not only clones but traps as well. This is going to take some time.'_ Shikamaru thought to himself in disgust.

He had hoped to enjoy a pleasant afternoon watching Naruto fight, not fight himself, let alone fight Naruto. The idea of taking on both Naruto and Hinata after seeing them trounce the Hyuga was disturbing him greatly. He needed more time to figure this out. Luckily he had a few tricks up his sleeve that Naruto should be especially vulnerable to.

Chouji had quickly pulled out a special scroll. With a fluid motion that showed years of practice he opened the seal on the scroll and pulled out a long thin cord that had many kunai tied to it at regular intervals. With a spinning motion he wrapped the cord around himself and increased his size so he became a large spiked ball. Naruto looked on puzzled that Chouji wasn't much larger.

"I would have thought Chougi would be using a larger size than that." Naruto whispered to Hinata.

"He can but if he keeps his size down a bit not only is he faster but he uses less chakra." She replied after glancing over to Chouji.

"Great…although I could use that." Naruto looked thoughtful.

"Can you generate a stiff breeze throughout the arena? Something a little over 20 kilometers an hour?" She asked as she swatted at one of Shinos Kikai.

"Shouldn't be a problem, why?"

"That'll keep Shino's Kikai on the ground. We'll still have to worry about them but not being able to fly will slow them down."

"You got it." He said as he concentrated.

Wind began to form within the arena. Many of the Hinata clones picked up on what the original Hinata had Naruto doing and each of them told their Naruto clones what to do. The improvised defense concept quickly spread to all the clones and soon most of his clones were adding to the growing breeze. All of the Naruto and Hinata figures suddenly looked to Chouji as he came spinning around the edge of the arena using his 'Nikudan Hari Sensha'. Although he was a good deal faster than what Naruto remembered, he was still pretty easy to dodge. The clones were having no real problems avoiding the rolling Akimichi. As Naruto started to smile though some of Chouji's kunai-spikes suddenly shot out, Narutos smile faded. The Hinata clones were able to easily deflect the flying kunai but several of the Naruto clones were struck and they vanished. Naruto grimaced in irritation as he realized that the cords were still attached to the kunai that Chouji had attacked with and his grimace became a full frown as the kunai were pulled back nearly instantly into the spinning mass allowing Chouji to use them again and again. Naruto was surprised that the Kunai hadn't tangled in the lines, just another example of how his friends had improved since he had left the village years ago.

A dark shadow suddenly lanced out along the ground as Shikamaru launched what looked like a basic Kage Mane no jutsu attack. The shadow branched out quickly latching onto to about a dozen of the nearby Narutos. Naruto was stunned to see each of the clones that Shikamaru had grabbed had dissipated nearly instantly.

"Damn, looks like Shikamaru can easily disrupt the shadow clones." Naruto muttered.

"He's also not targeting any of my clones, he's more concerned about finding us than actually fighting the clones." Hinata replied.

"Hopefully whatever he's doing takes a lot of chakra but just in case." Naruto said with a smile as he generated a few more special clones to fill in just a few of the ranks that Chouji and Shikamaru had emptied.

Shikamaru took a breath to recover a bit. That took a bit more chakra than he would care to continuously expend but it was less than what it would take to hold the clones long enough for someone else to disperse them. As his breathing quickly normalized the tree nearest to him wavered. The slight motion caught Shikamaru's eye and he took note of a mass of bugs within the distortion. As he looked on he realized that Shino was somehow hidden under the bugs that were hiding within the tree somehow.

"How did you disperse his clones so quickly?" The faint and rough image of Shino asked.

"Even though Kage Bunshin generates actual flesh and blood replicas, they're still based on shadows. Once I latch onto one with my own shadow I know it's a shadow clone and I can destabilize their chakra enough that they collapse by sending a spike of my own chakra through my shadow. It only works on shadow clones though, if he's learned other clone techniques I won't be able to pull that off."

"Interesting." The image of Shino faded.

Shikamaru found himself staring at the tree unsure if Shino was actually hidden in the tree, if the tree itself was a genjutsu of if it was some sort of projection. He sighed again. They really had to start working as a team if they were going to pull this off and that just wasn't happening.

Chouji suddenly hit one of the trenches from the earlier battle and bounced into the air a few feet. Naruto quickly took advantage of the brief opportunity and focused some of the wind he had swirling all around them into a small but intense tornado directly under Chouji. Pushing a hefty amount of chakra into the wind, the small tornado intensified and Chouji suddenly found himself not only being lifted into the air but he was also beginning to spin much faster than he was accustomed to as he began to gain a substantial amount of altitude.

Hinata saw Sakura charging one pair of clones. She quickly pulled a kawarimi, switching not only herself but Naruto as well with the clones that Sakura was attacking. Naruto lost his 'air' grip on Choji because of the shift but he had imparted enough additional spin, velocity and altitude onto Chouji that he was likely going to be out of the fight for a few minutes. Hinata almost gasped, she could actually see the air wavering from the power Sakura was concentrating into her fist.

"Shugo Hakke Rokujyuyonshou." Hinata whispered.

She was able to easily deflect Sakuras strike away from her as she stepped forward and spun around a half circle to keep facing Sakura as she rushed by. Naruto had chosen to leap over Sakura and wound up behind Hinata. Hinata was surprised at just how much power Sakura was wielding, she knew she could not afford to even be grazed by one of Sakuras strikes. The pink haired kunoichi struck the ground with a fearsome explosion of shattering rock. Hinata was able to block all of the pieces of flying rock, protecting herself and Naruto as a billowing cloud of pulverized rock enveloped the three of them. Sakura spun to face her opponents but before she could completely pull back for another strike Hinata lunged forward and her hand blurred. She hadn't completely recovered but she knew enough time had passed that she could safely pull off a 'juken strobe' attack and still be able use her regular juken strikes. Pushing herself as hard as she ever had before in the past week she lashed out to Sakura in one great sweeping motion. Her pulse strike ran up Sakuras right arm, across her upper chest from one shoulder to the other and along her left arm. The strobe faltered before she could finish the full sweep though and Sakura likely could still manipulate chakra in her left hand. Although it was easily the widest area Hinata had ever managed to cover with one of her juken strobe attacks it simply wasn't enough to hit all the tenketsu she had hoped to hit.

Sakuras eyes went wide as she realized her inhuman strength was nearly totally cut off as far as punching went anyway. She felt that she could still use chakra in her left hand but without being able to properly balance her chakra throughout the full length of her arm she'd be risking major injury to that arm if she tried to use her strength for a punch. Before she could truly react though she saw Hinata give Naruto a quick signal. Suddenly a bright Rasengan formed in his hand and quickly began to waver as he pumped elemental wind energy into the Rasengan. Hinata leaped backwards over Naruto arching her back as she flew over his head. The air around the three of them cleared a bit as some wind energy began to slip off of Narutos Fuuton Rasengan. Sakuras mouth actually fell open in shock as she watched Naruto actually strike up towards Hinata with the odd Fuuton Rasengan. She saw the air distort around the Rasengan as Naruto shifted even more his chakra into elemental air energy into the bright orb of chakra just before he lashed out at Hinata with it as the dark haired girl passed over him. Even though she had witnessed the same basic technique Naruto used earlier to launch Hinata into the air seeing it up close had caused her to forget for a moment that Naruto had learned to use the Rasengan to a much greater degree than as a simple weapon. For a second there she faltered thinking that Naruto had attacked Hinata. Sakura tried to follow the path of her dark haired opponent as she took flight of sorts but the smoke from her strike was still in the air surrounding them and Hinata was swallowed up by that smoke almost immediately as she flew off.

Sakura was forced to stop thinking about Hinata as Naruto took advantage of her shock to attack her. They exchanged an impressive number of blows in what seemed to be a fraction of a seconds time but each was able to easily block the others strikes. Despite all of the time she had known him she actually had no idea if she was fighting the real Naruto or one of his clones. Although considering how quickly he had generated that Fuuton Rasengan, she was willing to bet she faced the original.

"I thought Tsunade told you not to use wind Rasengans." Sakura said with a grimace as one of his fists grazed her upper arm.

"And I thought I told you that she only meant the Rasen-Shuriken." Naruto smiled even more as Sakura was forced to retreat.

Naruto launched a spinning roundhouse kick to Sakuras head that just grazed the tip of her nose. She glared at him in irritation, he shouldn't be this fast she kept thinking to herself. Certainly not fast enough to push her after all the training she had gone through with Tsunade, Hinatas strike must have slowed her down more than she originally thought. That damn smile of his was also really beginning to piss her off as well. It was almost as if he was toying with her. He fired off a quick jab to her face. Instead of standing there and blocking or backing up Sakura jumped forward a step as she brushed his fist aside with her left forearm and drove her right fist into his stomach. Naruto gritted his teeth, he had gotten a little on the cocky side and Sakura landed a good one. Luckily it was a 'normal' punch and he didn't even get breath knocked out of him, although it was close. He quickly grabbed her arm with one hand as she was still moving forward a bit while throwing his other hand over his head before she could re-chamber her fist for another strike. Tucking his knees up to his chest as he rolled backwards he pulled her unto his feet. He continued to spin over himself and as he rolled over his own head he kicked out, sending Sakura flying as he pushed off hard with the hand he had over his head imparting that much more velocity to Sakura. It was a bit unorthodox but he was good with the unexpected. Instead of being launched high into the air Sakura found herself skimming just over the ground. She had virtually no time react as her flight didn't last long before she hit the ground and went skidding. She slid along the ground practically on her face through the rapidly fading smoke along the same basic trajectory that Hinata had gone.

As Hinata flew through the air she pulled off a henge and before she cleared the edge of the smoke she looked exactly like Sakura, there wasn't even a hint of her activated Byakugan. She let herself go limp once she got a look around, just in time before she cleared the edge of the cloud and she found herself sailing through clear air. She saw that her trajectory was nearly perfect. She was heading towards the wall in a shallow arc and there was only one person close enough with the speed to do anything about catching her.

"Sakura!" Lee suddenly screamed out as he saw the limp figure seemingly tossed out of the cloud of smoke. He turned away from the clones he was facing, his attention torn away from the fight to become completely focused on the sight of Sakura flying through the air like that. He moved so quickly he seemed to vanish, not even a green blur was seen as his weights clattered to the ground where he had been standing and he positioned himself to catch the disguised Hinata.

Just before he was about to catch her Hinata twisted in mid air. Lee was caught completely by surprise as she lashed out with the opening set of strikes for Hakke Rokujuuyonshou before she could even touch the ground. Still in shock at the sight of Sakura attacking him, Lee was unable to defend himself. That shock enabled her to land softly on her feet and continue the juken attack without faltering the slightest as she transitioned from the air to ground.

Hinata had just finished the 32 strike set and was about start the 64 strike set on the now helpless Lee when an odd chakra and ink construct that looked like a stylized panther attacked her. With her Byakugan active she was able to clearly see exactly how the chakra was supporting and giving form to the ink. Leaning back so the panthers claws passed over her, she leapt away from Lee. Pulling out a kunai with a swift motion, the kunai was quickly buried in the chakra focal point of the ink based creature. The ink Panther immediately collapsed. Lees eyes went wide as the real Sakura emerged from the smoke, sliding along the ground towards their general position. Hinata smiled as she dropped the henge and glanced over her shoulder at the obviously furious Sakura. Hinata was pretty certain that the sight of 'herself' attacking Lee had increased the fiery Harunos anger a bit more than whatever Naruto had done to knock her out of the smoky area.

Hinata gave one more quick glance to the staggering Lee and the advancing Sai. Tossing a couple more kunai towards Sai, she turned and ran back to Naruto.

"Lee should be out of things for a while. Sai interrupted me before I could finish a full 64 palms attack though. How are you doing? Sakura looked pretty pissed off just now, I think she's got a split lip." She said as she closed in with Naruto and eyed Sakura through the now mostly clear air as the pink haired kunoichi stood up shakily, backed off a bit further before turning and heading to Lee and Sai.

"Fine, Chouji hasn't gotten up yet, I think he's puking in the bushes over there, Ino is still working on Kiba and Shikamaru is about to get a surprise once he tries that shadow paralysis dispersal technique or whatever it is he used on the clones on those four special clones." Naruto chuckled.

"TenTen seems to be unable to get much of an advantage against the clones she's fighting, that's good. That just leaves Shino, we can't afford to ignore him any further. We have to find him as soon as possible. I'm amazed he hasn't managed to figure out how to tell us apart from the clones yet." Hinata whispered back to him.

"Looks like it's your turn to watch what you say." Naruto laughed as he pointed above them.

Hinata was surprised to see Shino literally falling out of the sky directly above them. Where he came from she had no idea, frankly she was a bit surprised that he would put himself into such a vulnerable position, something wasn't right. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Narutos hands blur upward as he launched several shuriken at Shino.

"Naruto wait!" Hinata cried out but it was too late, the shuriken had already left his hands. The dark spinning stars of steel quickly intercepted the rapidly descending form of Shino and to Narutos surprise they passed through him. Narutos eyes grew wide as the figure of Shino wavered and transformed into a mass of Kikai.

"Mushi Bunshin!" Naruto exclaimed as the cloud of Kikai descended onto both him and Hinata.

Hinata was caught off guard. She had been surprised by seeing the falling form of Shino appear seemingly out of nowhere and wasn't able to use her Shugo Hakke defense before the cloud of bugs closed the gap between them. They were both quickly covered with Kikai. Naruto thought furiously. With the bugs literally on them, pulling off a kawarimi would be pointless, most if not all of the bugs would simply shift with them like their clothes. Naruto felt his chakra diminish slightly, it'd take forever for the bugs alone to really slow him down though. Unfortunately the real problem was that all of their opponents would quickly know exactly where they were. They had made a good start at stopping their friends but none of them were down for the count yet. Narutos hands blurred through a string of hand seals. He often had trouble with this jutsu but it would get them out of this, luckily the water table wasn't that far beneath them.

"Suiton Suishouho no jutsu!" Naruto yelled out as he finished the final seal.

A column of water erupted from the ground directly underneath both him and Hinata. They were both completely soaked and spun about as the column spread out and formed a decent sized vortex around them. It was about two meters high or so and they were quickly in a clear area a little less than three meters in diameter as the wall of water spun around them. Almost all of Shino's Kikai were washed off of them though.

"When did you learn any water element jutsu?" Hinata looked at him in shock.

Naruto motioned her to wait as he built up a Rasengan and as he blended wind into the Rasengan he expanded its size but not its power.

"Fuuton Rasengan Vortex Dust Storm!" He called out as he slammed the rapidly growing sphere into the ground.

Instead of immediately dissipating or blasting a crater into the ground, Naruto caused the vortex to transform into something of a hefty dust devil. The spinning mass of air quickly grew and expanded past them ruffling their clothes, knocking off the last of the Kikai and even drying them off slightly. The expanded vortex of air quickly impacted the now faltering vortex of water and both jutsu were disrupted causing the mass of water to spray out in all directions soaking all of their clones and opponents that were within twenty meters or so of the small wall of water. Unfortunately Naruto simply couldn't pull off the two jutsu close enough together to make any sort of effective attack using that water jutsu and one of his Fuuton Rasengans.

"It's not really water element manipulation. In fact it's not even close to the real 'Suiton Suishouho' from what I know. That was a jutsu that belonged to the Nidaime Hokage. He was able to actually generate water without tapping into an existing water source, simply by using his chakra." Naruto said with a smile.

Naruto glanced up and sure enough it looked like Tsunade was giving Jiraiya an earful about the jutsu Naruto just revealed.

"So exactly what is it that you used then?" Hinata asked in a whisper as she activated her Byakugan to furiously looked around for the real Shino before pulling another kawarimi, switching her and Naruto together with a set of clones.

"It's actually just a regular water based ninjutsu, I just use the same name that the Second used for his water element jutsu. Unlike the Nidaime I have to be near water to pull it off. Like I said, he could generate water simply from his chakra, doing that is beyond me. I pulled all of that from the water table below us, luckily it's only about three meters below the stadium. Jiraiya taught it to me during my training trip. It sometimes comes in handy to be able to pull water out of the ground when you're working with toads." Naruto finished as he also looked around at all of their opponents.

Kiba and Akamaru were standing together again and Ino was working on Akamarus nose by the look of things over near the entrance. Lee looked wobbly as he was now standing near Sakura. Sai was still pretty close to Sakura and Lee but obviously had no interest in fighting. Sakura had her full attention obviously focused on Lee and seemed to be attempting to work on him with her medical jutsu. Shikamaru was trying to get Chouji back onto his feet and was obviously assessing all of the remaining clones. He was actually trying desperately to figure out where the real Naruto and Hinata were. TenTen had managed to disrupt a number of Narutos clones but she didn't seem to be having any luck with the Hinata clones and the sets of clones facing her had quickly settled into a mostly defensive posture with the still paired Hinata clones protecting 'their' Narutos. Hinata was very worried that there was no sign of Shino.

"Damn it." Sakura cursed as she picked herself up and ran to Lee.

The green clad ninja flinched slightly as she came close and Sakura cursed the effectiveness of Hinatas attack, now Lee was edgy around her. At least Lee was still conscious and didn't look too bad. Sakura tossed a smile Sai's way as her odd teammate continued to help Lee stand.

"I should engage this Hinata before she has a chance to blend in with the rest of them. I have a feeling that this one is the real one and these two have shown a disturbing knack for being able to switch places with their clones." Sai said as Lee stood on his own.

"Hai." Sakura answered Sai before turning to speak softly to Lee. "Are you o.k. Lee?"

"I have been better but Sai stopped her before she could finish the full 64 palms sequence." Lees eyes brightened as Sakura gave him a tender smile. "I will be able to fight effectively in a short time. For you I will recover even quicker! I have felt the brunt of the Hyuga attacks many times sparring with Neji! I **will** recover faster!"

"Looks like I was right and that was the real Hinata, I think Shino got them!" Sai called back as Shinos Mushi Bunshin attack caught the couple they were all fighting.

He scribbled furiously, quickly creating a very small dragonfly that jumped off of the paper and flew towards the Kikai covered couple. The dragonfly quickly disappeared within the mass of bugs covering the pair and reverted back to its original ink state, staining Hinatas sleeve under the bugs just as the water erupted out of the ground.

Hinata and Naruto were not far from the center of the stadium. They had switched places with a pair that wasn't too far from where they had first escaped Shinos attack. They figured that would help keep them camouflaged with the nearby clones that also had damp clothing from what Naruto did to escape the Kikai. Hinata saw Sai begin to draw with surprising speed while maintaining focus on her.

'_Finally. Although he seems very sure of himself. Almost as if he knows he is not looking at a clone.'_ Hinata thought to herself as a mass of ink creatures erupted from the flowing ink of Sai's brush.

She had been getting concerned that Sai was holding back too much. Unlike the others he was nearly a complete unknown to her. The dark images grew only slightly though compared to his panther attack. Hinata rolled her eyes as it became obvious that the ink constructs were insects. It looked like had generated thousands of insects.

'_He can't be serious.'_ She thought to herself. _'This kind of attack will be completely useless against me and even he should know that.'_

Hinata fell back slightly and eased into her Shugo Hakke defense posture. Her Byakugan active she only gave the attacking mass of ink insects part of her attention. These chakra constructs were especially vulnerable to her defense as her eyes immediately locked on to each ones chakra focal point for the briefest fraction of a second before a pulse of her chakra wiped it out. In fact this was far less taxing than fighting real insects since it actually took less of her chakra to destroy the fabrications of ink since she could see each ones vulnerable spot. She divided her attention, giving the obvious attack only what it required as she scanned beyond the attacking mass looking for another attack.

Shikamaru turned from the still dizzy Chouji, looking around before his attention locked onto Kiba over by Ino who was still working on Akamaru. He glanced back to Chouji and knew his long time friend was still going to be out of the fight for a little more but at least he had stopped getting sick and could stand on his own. Although he still looked like he was still pretty close to falling on his face. Shikamaru ran over to Ino, covering the distance without any of the many Naruto and Hinata clones paying much attention to him. One of the Narutos did toss a kunai his way but Tenten quickly took advantage of the opening and hit that Naruto with a kunai. That particular Naruto proved to be a clone as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Shikamaru took note of the new reinforcement clones of Naruto filling in the gaps from the ones he had dissipated earlier. It seemed that Tenten was only facing clones. Still, Shikamaru couldn't tell the difference between the clones and the originals just by watching them. Until they disappeared that is, the clones seemed to be able to use all of the jutsu that the originals could. The only obvious difference was that the clones couldn't take more than a few hits. Shikamaru knew instantly when they were clones once he latched onto one with his Kage mane no jutsu but that wouldn't help him find the originals. He also had an uneasy feeling that if he didn't manage to latch onto both of the real ones at the same time which ever one he didn't catch would be able to kawarimi their captured partner out of the shadow possession. Normally that really wasn't something shinobi could do but there was something different about these two and how they used the clones. That was making Shikamaru uneasy.

"Look for the Hinata with an ink stain on her left sleeve. I was able to tag her when Shino attacked. I think the originals are staying near the center while their clones on the edges are getting hammered." Sai said softly to Lee and Sakura as he returned to them while he studied the center mass of Hinata and Naruto figures.

"You should tell Shikamaru that and co-ordinate your attack." Sakura said angrily, scowling slightly at Sai as Hinata destroyed the last of his ink insects.

Sai stared at her with his typical expressionless face before giving her one of his weird smiles. He was certain that it still looked like a fake smile to many but it was all he had. He was tempted to say something about Sakuras 'team work' from when she took on Hinata and Naruto by herself but for a change he figured that could wait. Finally he nodded and while keeping an eye on the center group of Narutos and Hinatas he started making his way towards Shikamaru.

"Hurry up Sai, we'll join you as soon as I finish with Lee!"

Sai nodded as he was walking away and then broke out into a run.

Shikamaru knew that he had to get at least a few of this quickly tossed together 'team' working together if they wanted to actually have some sort of chance of beating these two. His irritation grew on how they had proved to be far better at using the clones to keep their opponents off balance. He would have never imagined this amount of skill was possible for anyone their age. Naruto was a given when it came to using the damn shadow clones effectively but to see Hinata working with them as if she'd been doing it for years was 'very troublesome'. Shikamaru felt he was missing something critical. Narutos skill with the clones was much better than his old 'throw hundreds of clones at a problem'. Only someone like Naruto could be effective with that tactic. Shikamaru stole a glance to Jiraiya and Kakashi in the stands. He hated when an opponent had an unknown advantage.

"Kiba it looked like you found a way to tell the real Naruto and Hinata apart from their clones, how did you do that?" Shikamaru asked as Kibas glare shifted along the many figures of Naruto.

"To tell the truth I'm not really sure I had the real ones, you simply can't trust Naruto with stuff like that." Kiba grumbled.

"Tell me about it." Shikamaru said with a complaining overtone.

"There was something slightly different about the smell of the two I attacked and I figured it was a relatively safe bet that I had the real ones."

"Can you do it again?"

"Doubt it, right now I just can't get all of the smell of my own blood out of my nose. I can pull off basic tracking and tell people apart but noticing that slight difference was right at the edge of my smelling ability before I took one of his damn Rasengans to my face."

"Damn, keep an eye out for Shino, I think he may have found a way to tell the real ones from their clones." Shikamaru muttered.

"If I see him I'll find out and let you know." Kiba said as he turned his attention back to Ino.

The young Nara thought furiously and Sai caught his eye, something about Sai's focus on his current opponent didn't make sense to Shikamaru. Sai wasn't paying any real attention to any of the other Hinatas.

"Sai may have singled out the real Hinata. Damn I could really use Shino." Shikamaru glared back to Kiba.

"Don't worry about Shino! If he finds them you can be sure that he'll let the rest of us know." Kiba spoke loudly in defense of his teammate.

"It looked like he almost had them a few moments ago but Naruto pulled off a Suiton jutsu followed by one of his Fuuton Rasengan variants to escape. They probably pulled off another kawarimi. I still have trouble believing their clones can handle the being shifted like that. This is getting to be more than just troublesome." Shikamaru said, with an almost whine in his voice.

"The worst part about this so far is that it looks like Hinata has been holding back." Kiba stated softly.

"Great, just great, I'm sure she disabled Sakura and Lee already. Now she's up against Sai. Kiba are the two of you up for your Garouga?" Shikamaru asked, glancing from Kiba to Ino.

"They're combat effective right now, figure roughly 95 percent. These two are tough." Ino said with an odd tone of approval in her voice.

"Are you sure you want us to go that far? If it doesn't work it'll put a serious hurting on me and Akamaru. If it does work, I'd worry about killing them." Kiba sounded subdued but his eyes lit up at Shikamarus suggestion.

"Yeah I'm sure, we have to bring this up a serious notch and we have to take out the clones before we can effectively fight these two. I want you to focus on our right side. I'll get Chougi and Tenten to work the left side and I'll work on the ones in the immediate area. Ino you see if you can help get Sakura and Lee back into this fight. Remind her that we all need to work together. He'll follow her lead but the way this has been going she needs a reminder."

Shikamaru caught Chougi's attention and ran through a quick set of custom 'Team 10' hand signals. Chougi nodded and began heading to the right. He then turned to Ino and gave her a set of hand signals as well, before she turned and headed off towards Sakura and Lee. If they can get rid of the clones, there was a good chance that he and Ino could put an end to this fight pretty quickly. He spotted Tenten looking his way and he used standard academy hand signals to give her some instructions.

"Inuzuka Ryuu Chinjuu Konbi Henge, Soutou Rou!" Kiba called out while Akamaru barked in synchronization with his partner.

Shikamaru looked up with his mouth open in shock at the sight of the tremendous two headed white wolf that Kiba and Akamaru had transformed into. It was one thing to hear and read about this combined jutsu his friend used, it was quite another to have a snarling two headed wolf tower over him.

The growling and massive wolf form towering over the surprised Nara leaped into the air quickly shifting into their Garouga attack. Lancing through the air, they proved to be devastating to the clone pairs on the right. Clone couple after clone couple disappeared into puffs of smoke. Even the Rasengans that some Naruto clones managed strike out and connect seemed to have no effect on the massive spinning form. Even the Shugo Hakke that Hinatas clones pulled off was no match for Kiba and Akamaru when they used this attack.

Looking left Shikamaru smiled to see Tenten and Chouji working fluidly together. Tenten had another set of scrolls out, causing dozens and dozens of kunai to appear before her in a seemingly endless stream that she was immediately throwing. Chouji was inceasing the size of his hands before extending his arms out to strike out with massive punches to their foes. The two of them ran together fluidly on their left side of the arena. Clone pair after clone pair disappeared under the combined Tenten, Chougi onslaught. The double attack of massive amounts of Tentens small fast moving kunai and shuriken coupled with Chouji's large scale Bubun Baika attacks was proving to be too much for the Hinata clones Shugo Hakke. Many of Hinatas clones using their Shugo Hakke were having their defense jutsu simply collapse.

'_Probably due to the clones declining chakra levels. Although the clones started out with roughly the same amount of chakra as the originals, the chakra of the originals replenishes by their bodies over time. Something the clones really couldn't do.'_ Shikamaru thought and he was also beginning to suspect that the chakra of the dispersed clone shifted back to the original after the dispersal.

'_If that was true a Byakugan or Sharingan user would be able to easily tell the difference in the chakra levels between the clones and the originals in short order. That doesn't match what I saw of the fight between Neji and Naruto years ago. Yes, the chakra must disperse evenly among the originals and the clones. The Byakugan wouldn't be able to tell the original from the clones no matter how many clones get destroyed in the short term.'_ Shikamaru cursed softly as he thought to himself_. 'This is a useless line of thought. Without the help of a Byakugan or Sharingan user it just doesn't matter anyway. Although, Shinos bugs can probably tell.'_

Sakura was using her limited medical jutsu on Lee, trying to use her left hand that was still able to use chakra. While not as smooth as it should be she was still capable of using her medical skills. It was irritating her that it wasn't faster though.

"Wouldn't it be better for you to fix your own tenketsu first and then work on me?" Lee asked as his head swam from Sakuras touch.

"It doesn't really matter, there isn't much I can do with my one working hand that I can't do just as well internally. It'll take a bit of time on my own either way so it'd be better to try to help you out. I'm actually trying to focus most of my energy on my right hand while working on you with my left. Even after all of Tsunade's training, being able to re-open a tenketsu is simply not easy. I really only know how to do so theoretically. The Hyuga have never really been all that willing to help with stuff like this. How many of your tenketsu did she close before Sai stopped her anyway?"

"She had just finished the 32 strike set and hadn't started the 64 strike set so she only got 62 points." Lee said with an oddly dreamy look on his face.

Ino ran up and smiled slyly at the look on Lees face. Although she wisely lost that smile as Sakura turned around.

"Shikamaru sent me to help, those two are picking us apart. He told me to remind you that we all have to work together." Ino said with a smirk at being able to annoy Sakura.

I wish you had more chakra Lee. That would make this a lot easier." Sakura said softly.

"Really? I can do that!" Lee smiled broadly as he closed his eyes.

"Lee…" Sakura started to say.

She was pretty sure she knew what he was about to do and didn't think it was a good idea. Unfortunately she only had enough time to say his name before she heard his voice.

"Kaimon. Release!" Lee called out and Sakuras eyes widened as she felt a massive surge of chakra emanate from Lee.

"Lee I didn't mean for you to open any gates." She whispered, the concern was very evident in her voice.

"Do not worry about me Sakura! Please though, forget about my tenketsu and simply focus on my muscle and soft tissues. I don't really need the tenketsu for my taijutsu." Lee said, given her a thumbs up and smiling brightly.

"O.k. then. Ino give me a hand. Hinata didn't complete her attack on Lee and we just have to patch him up a bit to get him back into the fight." Sakura said in a commanding voice that instantly annoyed Ino.

"Tell ya what forehead, you work on Lee and I'll see what I can do for you." Ino said with a smile.

"Ino-pig!" Sakura growled.

"Just relax, you know as well as I do that putting the two of you back into this fight would be worth the delay in getting just Lee back into gear."

By using her medical jutsu and working on Lee as Ino concentrated on her, the two apprentice medical ninja surprisingly got more done in less time than they expected. Sakura was able to actually get Lees own chakra to quickly ease the bruising of his muscle and internal organs that had been bruised by Hinatas attack. She was very impressed that Hinata had effectively managed to disable Lee without doing any serious or long lasting harm to the green clad shinobi. It wasn't long before Lee felt as though he was ready to jump back into the fight. Sakura knew that they both really needed a few days to properly recover from Hinatas attack but she knew that trying to convince him of that was as pointless as Ino convincing her of the same.

None of them saw exactly what happened but there was some sort of explosion and Shikamaru disappeared in a cloud of smoke as they looked up because of the noise.

"I have to go." Ino called out as she ran off towards the cloud.

"I hope Shikamaru is o.k." Lee said as he looked at the cloud.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, right now you're the one I'm worried about." Sakura said.

"Please do not worry about me now." Lee said with his gleaming smile.

"Lee…" Sakura said with a bit of warning creeping into her voice.

Lee suddenly became still as he closed his eyes and his breathing steadied. He really wasn't supposed to do this unless it was absolutely necessary. He opened his eyes and looked deeply into her green eyes. He had always found her eyes especially captivating. For Sakura he would do anything.

"Kyuumon Release." Lee said surprisingly softly.

Sakura's eyes widened as she felt another surge of chakra from Lee. Sakura still had something of a connection to him through her medical jutsu that allowed her to sense that he had almost completely recovered. She was then stunned as he suddenly vanished.

Shikamaru smiled as he picked the closest of the new Naruto clones before he completely lost track of the new additions. Kiba, Chouji and Tenten were making quite a dent in all the clone pairs near the outer edges of the stadium. While the black and orange clad figure he had chosen had his back to the young Nara, a shadow quickly shot out. As Shikamaru felt his jutsu fall into place and lock onto his opponent he knew something was different. This one did not feel like all of Narutos other clones that he had dissipated but he didn't feel like a regular person either. Shikamarus grip on his kunai tightened and he swallowed, he suddenly felt uneasy. One thing you could always trust in Naruto was his ability to come up with something unexpected. His grip on the clone faltered slightly, just enough so that the Naruto he had caught was able to turn his head and Shikamaru saw that he was smiling.

Shikamaru noticed just the slightest shimmer that seemed to play along the edges of the Naruto figure before him. It was something he felt that only a shadow user, like someone from the Nara clan would have noticed at all. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realized he definitely had latched onto a clone, a clone that was different. He threw his arms up and tightly closed his eyes in desperation as the clone suddenly exploded. Everybody turned at the sound to see Shikamaru disappear into the sudden cloud of smoke from the exploding clone. It didn't take long before the small cloud faded to reveal the figure of Shikamaru lying on the ground. Nearly everyone held their breath for a few moments until the young Nara twitched slightly before he began to slowly and shakily try to prop himself up on one arm.

Up in the stands Tsunades eyes grew wide and she turned to Jiraiya.

"You taught him Bunshin Bakuha?" She hissed with enough blatantly obvious anger in her voice that her old friend paled slightly.

"Don't be like that. There aren't many people who can use clones like Naruto. It just made sense to me that he should know that." Jiraiya replied sheepishly as he edged slightly away from the Hokage.

All the other jounin had trouble hiding their surprise but they were all somewhat shell shocked from everything else they had seen Naruto and Hinata pull off. As rare as the exploding shadow clone technique was if any of them really thought about it, the only really surprising thing, was that Naruto hadn't thought it up himself.

Shikamaru's ears were still ringing. He was still completely amazed that Naruto knew Bunshin Bakuha. He quickly concluded that that the group of four clones Naruto had created after that first time he used the Kage mane disruption must have all been Bunshin Bakuha. He quickly glanced around at his 'team' and sighed there was still at least three exploding clones left and he didn't see a way of letting the rest know about that with the way they were working. At least he had gotten some of them to work together before Naruto got that hit in on him. The Garouga jutsu Kiba and Akamaru were using along with Chouji using his Buban Baika no jutsu while working with Tenten had considerably thinned the ranks of Naruto clones. Shikamaru was still impressed with the Soutou Rou henge that Kiba and Akamaru had used. He grew angry with himself, this was no time to get side tracked no matter how impressive the huge two headed wolf was and no matter how much his ears were ringing.

Sai was quickly by Shikamaru's side and helped him get to his feet.

"What was that?" Sai asked.

"Bunshin Bakuha."

"From Naruto? But that is an S-ranked ninjutsu." Sai seemed strangely unmoved despite stating something that ought to be impossible for a fifteen year old.

"Yeah, yeah but we're talking about Naruto, he was able to pull off Tajuu Kage Bunshin when he was twelve. Tsunade has semi-seriously joked about giving him 'impossible' as a middle name on many occasions. Man, now I really have a headache." Shikamaru said shakily.

"Damn Shika, are you alright?" Ino asked as she ran up to her long time friend.

"I'm pretty sure that I managed to tag the real Hinata with some ink on her left sleeve when Shino attacked them." Sai said before Ino could say anything herself.

Sai began to feel slightly uneasy just then. Looking around he realized that Ino was edging closer to him and had an odd expression on her face. Even stranger he felt that despite his unease he should look further into what was going on with Ino. Before any of them could do anything they felt an additionally strong wind surge past them that seemed to work against the still flowing breeze that Naruto and his clones had generated at the beginning of the fight. As they looked up they all saw an afterimage of green tear into the clones throughout the center of the stadium.

There was another explosion and the green blur seemed to sort of bounce away as the second of Narutos Bunshin Bakuha went off. Lee oddly enough didn't seem to even be slowed by the exploding clone. In short order though Lee triggered the final two exploding clones and despite escaping relatively unscathed the fourth one had definitely slowed him down.

Naruto braced himself as a Rasengan formed in his hand. He eyed the large spinning form as it closed in on him. He was reasonably sure that Kiba and Akamaru couldn't exactly target him while they were in that attack mode. The major reason why they had been so effective against the clones had nearly as much to do with the sheer number of clones as it did to the devastating nature of the attack.

He shifted the Rasengan in front of himself and brought his left arm up to help support it as he increased its size. He began to blend elemental wind energy into it and began to shift it into one of his new vortex attacks. The spinning energy had a tendency to spin out of control and disperse when he made one this large and powerful but he gritted his teeth and held on, expanding the size again but not the power so it roughly matched the size of the spinning form heading his way. To make it even trickier Naruto shifted the center of the vortex into a donut shape, leaving a hollow space right near his hands. That was actually the easy part, moving his right hand to the center and building a second normal Rasengan within that hollow space though brought this double jutsu right to the very edge of destabilizing and shattering.

One nice side effect using a RasenVortex against an attack such as the Garouga was that it seemed to help guide the spinning form directly into the center of his wind jutsu. For a brief instant Naruto thought that maybe that wasn't such a good idea as the Kiba/Akamaru Garouga impacted the inner Rasengan.

There was a tremendous crashing sound that seemed all too much like some terrible thunder. For the briefest of instants Naruto seemed to quiver as he stood his ground against the also quivering Garouga as they hung in the air. Naruto was flung back into the ground directly behind him. Between the powerful vortex of air coupled with the regular Rasengan Kiba and Akamaru went flying off in the opposite direction.

Naruto smiled as he bounced to his feet and wiped the small stream of blood from his mouth as he watched Kiba and Akamaru fly off to impact the ground on the far end of the stadium. Both of his forearms tingled a bit and his ears rang slightly but he knew that would fade quickly. Their jutsu fell apart as they hit the ground and both the Inuzuka teen and his canine companion flew off in slightly different directions after that first bounce off the ground. Kiba was certainly tougher and that huge two headed wolf form of him and Akamaru was certainly impressive but Naruto had gotten even stronger. Although Naruto grimaced, he would never have thought that Kiba would have been able to get up as quickly as he had earlier this match. Sure enough Naruto had to frown as Kiba staggered out of the bushes. Akamaru appeared a moment later a short distance away as well. They were both looking very unsteady though, in fact they both looked about ready to fall over. Naruto figured that as devastating as being slammed by the Rasengan and RasenVortex was, that massive spinning jutsu probably took as much fight out of the two on its own. Something like that had to use a lot of chakra.

'_They ought to be leaving me alone for a little while after that, I hope.'_ Naruto thought to himself as he looked to the center and grimaced as he saw Lee take out the last of his Bunshin Bakuha and several other sets of clones.

Naruto glanced over to Hinata who was facing off against Chouji and Tenten. Unlike her clones she focused on dodging Choujis attacks and was flashing in and out of her Shugo Hakke defense to deflect Tentens seemingly never ending supply of Kunai and Shuriken.

'_Damn how many weapons does she have?'_ Both Naruto and Hinata thought in stereo unknowingly as they both glanced at Tenten.

Suddenly they were alone as the green blur seemed to cut through the last of the clones, leaving the originals, who happened to have gotten further apart than they cared to in this situation. They glanced at each other and gave a quick nod. They wouldn't last long if they continued to fight like this. Either they had to work closely together or they needed their clones, preferably both. The both began to concentrate, unfortunately Naruto was interrupted.

"I have you now Naruto!" Lee yelled with that sparkling smile as his fist flew over Narutos hands as he was molding his chakra and landed a solid punch to Narutos chest. Naruto lost his concentration and wasn't able to form the single seal he needed. Looking at Lee he knew that it wasn't likely the taijutsu specialist was going to give him the small amount of time he needed to produce more clones.

Hinata hesitated for a second and TenTen almost got a hit through. She was tempted to generate several clones herself and henge some of them to look like Naruto but she figured that would be a waste of time. She wouldn't be able to draw enough chakra through the link fast enough at the distance they were at to balance her chakra properly with Narutos. She could fudge it but the real Naruto would likely stand out like a beacon to Shino's Kikai. That would basically mean attempting to hide them both within clones that only she made would simply wind up wasting chakra. They had to get closer together but with Naruto facing Lee and her being pressed by Chouji and TenTen they were barely able to keep out of range of Shikamaru. Her defense was nearly absolute but her offensive skills were mostly close range. With Chouji being an effective close to mid range fighter and Tenten being mid to far Hinata was certainly having a hard time. Luckily Sakura still seemed unable to join the fight effectively. Sai and Ino had run over to check on Kiba and Akamaru.

'_Damn it! I know he's going to jump one of us soon. Where the hell is Shino?'_ Hinata thought as she scanned continuously for her teammate.

The object of Hinatas concern was actually watching both her and Naruto very closely and was very frustrated. Narutos surprising skill manipulating wind had effectively scattered most of his combat capable Kikai. In fact the only ones he had readily available were the small portion of one colony he was using to mimic the trees and suppress not only his chakra but also suppress the chakra of the Kikai themselves that were hiding him. At this distance he was certain Hinata would not be able to find him as long as she was fighting the others. He had most of his remaining allies burrowing through the ground towards the area he thought was most likely that Naruto or Hinata were going to eventually head to. The bugs simply couldn't burrow through the ground fast enough to target them directly. Either he had to sneak them in ahead of time like he had at the start of the match or he needed them in the air if he was going to succeed with a direct attack. He still had some Kikai still in the air but because of the still moving stiff breeze they were simply standing by at the ready along the upper edge of the stadium wall. Shino frowned as he thought about the numbers of those, he simply didn't have enough there to counter Naruto or possibly even Hinata's chakra levels. His small frown deepened slightly, with the way his two opponents were moving around he hadn't even been able to tag either one of them with a female Kikai yet. He had also been surprised by Naruto using a water jutsu and wind jutsu together to counter his last failed attack against them. Although Shino knew that wouldn't work against his allies a second time. He smiled, it was just a matter of time.

Naruto swallowed. This was a close quarters fight he had been hoping to avoid. He quickly centered himself into a right square stance. While leaving his hands open he extended his right arm slightly and pulled his left arm back slightly to keep his left hand just in front of his stomach. The four corner blocking system that Jiraiya had quite literally pounded into him during those three long years was considered basic by many but it was effective. It normally gave a defender a bit of an advantage since from the ready position there was little movement required to pull off an effective block on most attacks to his mid and upper body. Against Lee though, Naruto felt as though it wasn't going to be enough. The four corner blocking also wouldn't be effective if he couldn't keep Lee in front of him. He thought furiously on how he'd also keep Lee at a distance as the green blur seemed to bounce around him.

'_Great he's playing with me.'_ Naruto thought in dismay.

Hinata suddenly rushed in on her large friend. There was an often ignored aspect to the Hyuga juken that might prove to be the undoing of Chouji and Tenten. She had to time this one just right. It was a lot like playing a game of pool, it was all in the angles. Tenten leaped into the air behind Chouji, getting ready to send another swarm of shuriken towards Hinata. Chouji suddenly pulled his arm back and while increasing the size of his fist he started to extend his arm behind him, intending to use the extra length to increase the effective energy in his strike. He was completely surprised to see Hinata do the exact opposite of what he expected, before he could even finish pulling his arm back she lunged forward. He didn't think she'd try any juken attacks on him as long as Tenten was backing him up. Hinata just shouldn't be able to get in enough strikes to take him down without exposing herself to Tenten. Unfortunately for both him and Tenten, Hinata had no intention of shutting off his chakra at this time. As his arm reached the perfect angle for what she was doing, Hinata hit his arm with a couple of chakra enhancing juken strikes. His eyes bulged in shock as his arm extended much further and faster than he expected because Hinata had forced his chakra pathways to flood his arm with his own chakra.

His massive fist flew back and caught Tenten in mid-air. The young kunoichi weapons mistress had the breath knocked out of her and she went flying. Chouji winced as he felt his fist impact Tenten and he make the critical mistake of turning to look back to see if she was o.k. as she flew off from his strike.

Hinata smiled.

"Hakke Rokujuuyonshou." She whispered.

Before Chouji really knew what was happening he was reeling back from Hinatas onslaught of strikes. This time she was more than half way through the 64 strike set before a brace of Kunai came flying her way, forcing her to cut off the sequence of juken strikes as a glaring Tenten re-entered the fray, quite a bit sooner than she expected.

Naruto grimaced. He had been using primarily the forward blocks, mostly the inside high forward. Lee seemed oddly determined to knock his head off while coming in on his left. He seemed to be firing off either a kick or punch to the left side of Narutos head at least twice as often as all of his other strikes combined.

"You have gotten much faster Naruto." Lee said with that never ending grin of his still plastered on his face.

"I don't know Lee, maybe you are simply getting slower. Are you sure that your 'fires of youth' are not fading?" Naruto said with a matching grin of his own.

Somehow Lee's smile brightened so much that for a moment and Naruto suspected that Lee may very well have learned some sort of 'bright smile jutsu' despite his complete lack of ninjutsu skills. To Narutos dismay Lee suddenly vanished. He felt a rush coming up behind him and he spun to meet it. Unfortunately he only caught a glimpse of green as Lee's fist smoothly lanced above Narutos attempted outside high rear block to catch him on the chin. As Naruto staggered back He felt a rush of air again and Lee proceeded to pound him. Naruto keeled over forward briefly as Lee buried a fist into his stomach, knocking the breath out of the orange clad ninja. Unfortunately Naruto wasn't able to fall forward for much distance as Lee landed a series of punches to his head and face. Naruto suddenly felt as though he was one of those poor, short lived wooden practice dummies in Lee's dojo.

As Naruto staggered he felt as though he knew what was about to happen and he raised his left arm in an attempt to complete an inside high forward block. Naruto started to smile as he actually saw Lee coming in with a basic roundhouse kick to the left side of his head. If he had the time his mouth would have fallen open as Lee's approaching roundhouse kick never actually materialized and Naruto was hit with what he thought was an outside crescent kick, on the right side of his head. Naruto didn't have time to recover as he immediately found himself flying backwards through the air after Lee blurred again to land a basic side kick on his chest. Naruto wondered if he had somehow imagined that incoming roundhouse kick, he really didn't want to think that Lee was 'that' fast.

Naruto actually bounced once after hitting the ground before he tucked in upon hitting the ground a second time and rolled along the mostly dirt floor of the stadium. He immediately bounced up to his feet though and despite being pretty unsteady he managed to stay standing despite his swimming double vision. An odd shifting geometric image seemed to play along the edges of his right peripheral vision and he couldn't decide if he was seeing triangles or rectangles as the many small, odd shapes seemed to fade in and out. Even worse his vision seemed to lose the ability to see in color in the area of the little angular yet oddly fluid images.

'_Great, I've probably got a concussion now.'_ Naruto thought as he fought to make his eyes begin to start tracking Lee again.

"Konoha Hurricane!" Lee yelled out as he moved forward in a blur once again, aiming one of his favorite attacks towards Naruto.

Naruto didn't think he would last much longer if Lee landed that one, provided he was even able to continue fighting at all if Lee connected. With speed borne of desperation he focused his chakra without even attempting any seals. This would have to be basic nature manipulation, he just didn't have the time for anything else. Naruto struck forward along Lee's path with a massive surge of elemental wind energy. As it impacted the edge of the fuzzy image of spinning green, Naruto instantly curled the wind back into itself and formed a small tornado like mass of air under Lee. While it didn't have the intense power of one of his Rasengan driven wind attacks, this basic spinning mass of air was enough to pick up Lee and send him flying. It certainly helped that Lee was already spinning though.

Hinatas hands blurred through a set of seals and molded her chakra. She smiled as she twirled inside the space of Chouji's arms while pulling off a subtle genjutsu coupled with a double henge. Tenten completely missed the genjutsu fall into place. Against typical genjutsu Tenten was actually quite proficient at noticing them when they were focused on her but Hinata was being especially subtle here. As she grabbed Chouji's arm down with her back to his chest, it looked as if she had continued to attempt to spin out behind Chouji.

Pumping as much of her chakra as she could into her muscles she levered the much greater mass of Chouji over her shoulder and pushed as much power as she could into launching him into the air. She could easily leap fifteen to twenty meters when jumping through trees when using her chakra like this. With all of that power she was able to throw the young but still quite large Akimichi through the air almost four whole meters. She leaped back softly in the opposite direction, giving herself another two meters of distance. That one was going to require a long hot soak later she thought as she flexed her back and pulled out a couple of kunai.

To Tenten though it appeared that Chouji had managed to grab Hinata and it looked like Hinata was the one sent flying. Normally she would have expected the young Hyuga to sail at least halfway across the stadium if Chouji had tossed her but since Hinata had just hit him with most of a 64 palms attack that seemed about right. Seeing the image of Chouji stagger back a couple of meters fit too perfectly into her experiences working with Neji and what she believed that Tenten never suspected that Hinata had in fact switched places with Chouji. Tenten figuring she had the perfect opportunity let fly with a good deal of shuriken. The mass of shuriken impacted the image of Hinata lying on the ground and Tenten gasped as the genjutsu fell away to reveal that she had hit Chouji and not Hinata. As she turned to the real threat she felt the stinging impact as Hinatas kunai hit both of her arms.

Hinata frowned as Tenten landed, staggered a bit before falling to her knees next to Chouji. She didn't like hurting her friends but neither her kunai nor Tentens shuriken had hit anything life threatening. If Ino and Sakura didn't have them back up in a minute or two, the medical team would certainly be able to quickly patch up and repair any damage done. She turned away from the two on the ground and smiled as she saw Lee go sailing through the air past her. She quickly moved to place herself between Lee and Naruto. She was a better choice to face Lee, Naruto had been correct when he had told her family that she was faster than her boyfriend. She only wished that she could close the distance between herself and Naruto quicker, being separated would quickly play them into their opponents hands. Sakura was moving towards Lee, apparently willing to fight again. Hinata mostly ignored Ino rushing to Tenten and Chouji while giving a glance to the still wobbling Kiba and Akamaru being supported by Sai. Shikamaru and Shino still worried her greatly, those two had to be up to something. Shikamaru was keeping his distance, likely preparing something. Once she got back to Naruto they would certainly have to focus on him.

Lee lost his sense of direction for a moment and wasn't able to gain any control of his spinning in midair. Naruto had imparted more spin to Lee than he even generated when opening the lotus. He was about to land badly when Sakura ran forward to intercept him perfectly. Sakura had to spin around herself a few times as she caught Lee, effectively plucking him out of the air. As she eased him to his feet Lee blushed furiously.

"Thank you Sakura-chan! You are my savior!"

"Alright, Alright already, don't get carried away now. Are you o.k.?" She asked obviously concerned.

"Of course! I almost had him, another few minutes and I'm sure I would have defeated him. With you by my side we are sure to win!"

Even Lee grew quiet for a moment as both he and Sakura saw Hinata position herself between them and Naruto.

Naruto smiled as he watched Hinata face off against Sakura and Lee through still slightly blurred vision. He had to get back to her side and now none of their opponents stood in his way. His smile was short lived as a dark mass of Kikai erupted out of the ground directly underneath him and completely covered him with surprising speed. Naruto dropped and rolled across the ground. He really didn't want to hurt Shino's bugs but he wasn't about to simply let them feed on his chakra. Unfortunately that didn't seem to bother the bugs at all.

'_Great, armored bugs.'_ Naruto sighed mentally as he rolled back to his feet and began jumping up and down while waving his arms furiously, hoping to dislodge at least some of them..

Between being nearly completely covered with Kikai and his fuzzy vision headache he didn't have enough focus to mold his chakra and remember seal sequences quickly, so he concentrated on his innate nature manipulation skill. Manipulating the wind was becoming as easy as breathing to him lately. It was even getting to the point that it seemed easier to work with than his shadow clones and his Rasengan. He called up a tight and fierce cyclone around himself hoping to drive the Kikai off. The bugs held on. Naruto growled softly and really pumped some chakra into the wind and the bugs held on. He brought the velocity up to the point where he was beginning to worry that he'd tear off his own clothes and knock himself down and the bugs still held on.

'_Son of a bitch! They're using their chakra to stick to me! How the hell did Shino teach them that?'_ Naruto thought in amazement. _'Well that only leaves one thing left for these guys.'_

Naruto drew deep on his chakra, pulling forth an incredible amount. As a bluish bubble began to form around him he steadied the flow and simply began to maintain it as close to his skin as possible. Time seemed around him seemed to slow, his vision snapped back to normal and the whole world seemed clearer, sounds seemed sharper. He held that level of chakra until he began to feel the Kikai begin to fall off. He smiled as they fell off faster and faster as the bugs became gorged on his chakra. On the other side of the stadium still hidden among the trees Shino was quite stunned. He had never expected to see something like this. By all rights Naruto should either be on the verge of collapse from chakra depletion or already unconcious.

'_Just how much chakra did Naruto have anyway? This isn't the Kyuubi's chakra. It would take a dozen or more jounin to knock out that many Kikai using nothing but raw chakra.'_ Shino thought to himself as he became mildly irritated.

They finally had a pretty good advantage, at least there was still just the single Naruto and Hinata. Shikamaru reached into his pouch and pulled out Asumas chakra knifes. He had been holding back as the others fought so he could push as much of his chakra into the blades as possible. Luckily Naruto hadn't seen him use them against Hidan and Kakuzu. As much of an idiot Naruto often seemed to be, he had an extremely annoying knack for remembering attacks, especially unusual ones and coming up with odd but effective ways of countering those attacks. Shikamaru quickly tossed both knives towards Naruto.

"You've got to do better than that Shikamaru." Naruto laughed as the two knives impacted the ground to each side of him.

Naruto suddenly stopped laughing as he felt his body lock and he couldn't move. He knew Hinata was trying to head his way and while it was only a matter of time before he would be able to overpower Shikamarus shadow possession on his own, with Hinata he'd be free in seconds. Unfortunately not only was Hinata busy fighting Lee and Sakura but Ino stepped forward, away from the figures of Tenten and Chouji and quickly started her Shintenshin as she locked eyes with her blonde target. It didn't take long for Ino to transfer to Naruto and suppress his mind. The young Yamanaka smiled, thinking that they had just won.

Ino's psyche looked out through Narutos eyes and her smile widened and Narutos body smiled as Shikamaru released Narutos body and his teammate had full control of the hyperactive ninja. Ino only wished she could pull off some of Narutos jutsu, the ability to use her targets jutsu when she had control was a skill she hadn't mastered yet when it came to using her Shintenshin. She almost felt a little giddy as she began to truly feel the vast amount of chakra within Naruto. It was unbelievable how much chakra he had she thought. Oddly enough she thought she could hear Naruto even now. That was very strange, the hosts psyche should be completely suppressed. She listened intently.

Sure enough, she did indeed hear Naruto screaming at her to get out of his body. It sounded as though he was a far distance away his voice was so faint. She was confident that she had nothing to worry about as she/he took hold of a couple of his kunai and turned to face Hinata. Before she could do anything though, she felt his chakra shift oddly. She focused, closing her/his eyes. Narutos angry voice was slightly clearer now but even more disturbing was that his chakra seemed to be destabilizing. She began to worry and didn't think she'd be able to stay inside his mind much longer if it started to get really unstable. Naruto always had one of the strongest wills she had ever encountered. Even when they were younger and she had thought him little more than an annoyance, he just never gave up. Luckily he annoyed Sakura and Iruka sensei more than anyone else so she could usually ignore him back in those days, unless he bothered Sasuke of course. Still it was now ridiculously obvious that his will was stronger than she imagined. Her father had taught her to be very careful with strong willed individuals. His high chakra made things even worse. She was beginning to suspect that if Shikamaru hadn't locked him down she would never have been able to override his mind.

"**What are you doing here little mind walker?"** A deep and very clear guttural voice emanated out of the darkness of Narutos mind.

Ino's psyche froze. She tightened her/his already closed eyes and felt a terrible presence somehow within Naruto. The sudden silence and unsettling cold darkness that almost seemed to be staring back at her only made things worse.

"What?" Her mind called out timidly.

"**You seem like a tasty morsel."** The voice spoke and Ino somehow got a very vivid impression of large teeth and claws despite seeing nothing but darkness.

"What are you?" She asked in the barest of mental whispers.

"**Don't you know? HAHAHAHaHaHahahaha. Where are you hiding? I can sense you near me somewhere, somehow but I can't see you. I wonder…"**

Ino suddenly realized that this must be the demon fox and she felt as though her heart had stopped.

"**Somehow whatever you have done is different. I don't think this damn seal protects you the way it protects Naruto or any of the others who have visited me. I'm not even sure that you are actually visiting me… but I can feel you. Have you come to offer yourself to me? It has been far too long since I have had someone sacrifice themselves to me. Even if it is only your mind that I will devour."**

Ino felt as though her heart was suddenly back and it was racing at least three times faster than normal. She had to escape.

'LEAVE HER ALONE YOU BASTARD!" Narutos voice screamed out in the darkness, somehow louder than she had ever heard it throughout all the years she had known him.

Ino was stunned, not even when she had fought Sakura to the edge of exhaustion had she ever heard her targets voice so clearly when using her Shintenshin. Narutos yell had been so loud she almost felt it more than she had heard it. Suddenly she felt that Naruto was there, seemingly next to her even though she couldn't see him. She felt his chakra surrounding her and it felt strangely warm and comforting.

"Naruto?" She asked with her mental voice shaking.

"You've got to get out of my mind! I don't know what is going on but that damn fox is up to something." Narutos voice seemed on the edge of panic, which did not help Ino.

Ino felt a surge of raw evil power that she thought was about to crash over her. She had never imagined that so much rage could possibly exist. Even worse she could feel a great animalistic hunger that was clearly focused on finding her. For a moment she froze and she wasn't sure if she imagined the moist heat of the demons breath was playing along the back of her neck through her hair or if the monster was about to bite off her psychic head. She heard and felt a deep guttural snarl that seemed to be directly behind her and she screamed in sheer terror. She wanted to run, she so desperately wanted to run but she seemed stuck in the darkness. Her mental fingers didn't seem to work and she couldn't make Narutos body form the release with his hands.

As she frantically fought within her own psyche to bring herself back under control the cold darkness took on a very dim cast of red. It was coming. She could feel the demon getting closer to her with every passing instant.

"NARUTO! HELP!" She screamed out inside his head and she heard his physical voice echo her mental cry for help as he/she collapsed to their knees.

Narutos chakra that had surrounded her mentally a moment ago suddenly intensified and she felt that power wrap tightly around her and become a fierce gale of power and wind energy within Narutos mind. The demons presence seemed to fade slightly and she jumped on the opportunity.

"Kai, Release!" Ino/Naruto screamed out and Ino's psyche flowed back to her own body.

Ino inhaled deeply as her eyes popped open, grew wide and she screamed in terror for a long moment before she realized that she was in her own body. She looked over to Naruto and their eyes locked. She could easily see the concern in his face. The tension drained away and her panic faded. As she relaxed she saw Naruto give her a soft smile.

"TIME!" Gai yelled out as he stared intently at Naruto.

Everyone stood there in complete shock and everyone was staring back and forth between Naruto and Ino. Hinata ran over to Naruto and lightly put her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you o.k.?" She asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm not sure about Ino, the damn fox messed with her seriously." Naruto said quietly as he stood.

Ino felt the relief wash over her and as she looked over to the still smiling Naruto and Hinata, she smiled back at him in thanks.

"Are you O.k.?" Shikamaru asked.

"Ino!" Chouji called out as he half staggered, half ran up to her, several shuriken still embedded in a few places here and there along his back and arms. He tenderly took her hand.

"I'm fine guys. I'm not sure what happened. I think the nine tails tried to consume my mind but Naruto saved me somehow." Ino said shakily as she stood up herself.

Tsunade and Jiraiya appeared next to Gai and all three stared at Naruto intently.

"What happened kid?" Jiraiya asked.

"I think the fox either tried to eat Ino or maybe it was only able to mess with her in some sort of sick mind game. I guess it doesn't matter since she got away. It seemed like there might be a strange hole in the Fourth's seal and the damn fox might be able to get to someone in some way if they use the Yamanaka mind transfer techniques. I'm still not sure if it could actually do anything to her other than give her nightmares though. I don't think it's a real problem though, if it was able to get out we'd know by now and I certainly don't feel any difference in the seal."

"Well we didn't feel any of the Kyuubi's chakra and you seem fine. Let me see that seal." Tsunade ordered.

The Hokage used her medical scanning skills to examine the seal on Narutos stomach very closely. Not finding anything out of place she quickly scanned his brain as well. Nothing seemed out of place and for a moment she was tempted to tease him about actually having a brain but instead she simply looked to Jiraiya. The toad sage knelt down and gave Naruto an intense examination of his own.

"Seems fine to me. That may be one hell of a defense against mind control jutsu you've got there kid. If you learn how to control it." The toad sage pronounced as he stood up while nodding to Tsunade.

"Feel up to continuing?" Tsunade asked Naruto.

"I'm o.k., there's no way I'm going to quit, after all we haven't won yet." Naruto said with a smile as he took Hinatas hand within his own.

Everyone turned to Ino.

"No way, I'm done. Sorry guys but that was too much for me. I'm going to be awake for weeks after that." She visibly shuddered before she gave one last soft look of silent thanks to Naruto.

"I think I'm done for too. I think I've lost my appetite." Chouji said softly as he gave a sad look to Shikamaru.

Everyone looked on in understanding as two of the medical team ran up to finish the work Ino had started on Chouji. In a few moments Ino and Chouji headed back to the doorway leading back to the stadiums inner stairs, escorted by the two med-nins.

Tsunade and Jiraiya vanished, to reappear an instant later back in their seats.

"Everyone back to where you all were when I stopped the match!" Gai yelled out.

Naruto and Hinata gave each other a look of fierce understanding as they pulled apart. This was a tough match, harder than facing her family in many ways but the way Naruto looked at things it was as simple as two down, seven to go, eight if you counted Akamaru. He only wished he or Hinata had seen where Shino had been hiding. He could sense that was really bothering her and that made him uneasy. Still he had caught the glance she had made towards Shikamaru. They had to knock him out as soon as possible.

The break had given the couple one very distinct advantage. It probably wouldn't be considered fair but standing close together and holding hands had re-synchronized their chakras.

"Everybody ready then?" Gai called out as he looked around at all of them before screaming out. "GO!"

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Naruto and Hinata screamed out in perfect unison despite the distance as their hands flew up to make the seal and they molded their chakra in an instant.

Once again dozens of clones of each appeared. Hinata pulled off a kawarimi to distance herself from Lee and Sakura. Although her clone was able to stay together after the jutsu it was disorientated for a second and it left itself open to attack. Sakura lunged in with one of her incredible punches and that clone vanished without even trying to defend itself. A good chunk of the stadium floor also vanished as the snarling Haruno followed through with her strike and impacted the ground, causing the entire floor to vibrate slightly as an impressive crater opened up under her fist from the shock wave.

'_Well I think it's safe to say that we've gotten under her skin.'_ Hinata thought to herself.

Naruto lunged forward immediately after the clones appeared and snared one of the chakra knives that once belonged to Asuma.

'_Let you chakra flow into the knife.'_ Naruto heard Asuma-sensei's voice. _'You've got to imagine splitting your chakra into two and rubbing them together. Then you've got to sharpen those two chakra parts into fine pieces and compress them together.'_

Naruto couldn't just go with what Asuma had taught him. He let a large amount of his chakra into the chakra knife and after he visualized splitting his chakra he looped each piece back into itself and quickly set the two pieces rotating in opposite directions to each other. He spun them faster and faster while rubbing them against each other. He was actually surprised at how easy and fast rotating just two streams of chakra was so he pumped more chakra into each piece that was flowing within the knife. In an instant the chakra knife had so much chakra imbued in it that it began to glow brightly. Naruto thought furiously when it suddenly hit him.

Temari's wind scythe. Naruto smiled.

He had only seen it that time she fought Shikamaru during that chuunin exam so long ago it now seemed. Naruto swung Asuma's chakra knife while focusing his will to release the elemental power. Shikamaru saw dust kicking up and he threw up his arms, forcing chakra into them as the vicious wind attack slammed into him and threw him back. It was obvious, painfully obvious that Narutos attack was for all intents and purposed the same as Temari's. The Suna nin used her fan to focus her wind attack while Naruto pulled it off on the fly using one of Asuma's chakra knifes. It had been years since he had faced Temari here but he was pretty sure that Temari's attack was actually a good deal stronger than Narutos.

'_Man, he probably used twice as much chakra to get half the punch Temari would have with such an attack. With my luck though he's still got such a ridiculous amount of chakra he can probably fire off attacks like that for a week before it tires him out.'_ Shikamaru groused to himself as he picked himself up off the ground.

Naruto thought about using the chakra knife some more, it was a potent weapon in his hands but he felt that he was really wasting chakra. That blast simply didn't match what he thought it should for the amount of chakra he had pumped into the knife. He was getting something wrong with what he was attempting. He knew that with time he would figure out what the problem was and he'd really be able get something spectacular out of a weapon like the chakra knife. Also it was primarily a cutting weapon, couple that with his unfamiliarity with the weapon and the fact that his incredible power was also more inclined towards cutting, was simply asking for someone here to get seriously hurt. The kunai and shuriken they were all throwing at each other were not necessarily life threatening, as long as they didn't target vital spots anyway. Using one of these chakra knifes with his wind nature though could easily cost someone an arm or a leg, if they were lucky. Naruto sighed as he tucked the knife into his weapons pouch and pulled out a typical kunai. He might be willing to not use it for now but he certainly wasn't about to give it up either while the fight was going on.

Hinata glanced back to Naruto and saw he was doing well against Shikamaru. She turned back and scowled as she watched Lee work his way through the clone pairs that had ran to each other and joined up in couples near him shortly after Hinata and Naruto generated them. Sakura had shifted away from Lee and was hanging back tending to the still injured Tenten. Since she had elected to stay in the fight the medical ninja couldn't patch her up, that had to be done by one of the people on their team. Hinata debated whether or not to join Naruto. There wasn't any of her clones close enough to pull off a kawarimi with and she debated pulling a switch with one of his. She noticed that their opponents were focusing more on the clones that had paired up so she decided to keep a bit of distance between herself and the real Naruto, for now anyway.

Shino suddenly appeared in front of Naruto. Despite seemingly unable to use his Kikai against Naruto effectively the young Aburame was surprisingly good with taijutsu. Not in the same league as Lee but Naruto was quickly getting a sinking feeling that the bug user was a bit better at taijutsu than he was as he retreated from the barrage of strikes Shino launched at him. It was also a little unnerving how Shino completely ignored all of Narutos clones and zeroed in on the real Naruto.

'_Either he planted one of his bugs on me or he's found a way to see through the shadow clones.'_ Naruto thought.

Shino's hands blurred through a set of seals.

"Katon! Firestorm no jutsu!" Shino called out as he drew a deep breath and exhaled, forming a huge cloud of small fire balls that flew towards Naruto.

Naruto threw his hand forward forming a Rasengan nearly instantly as he smiled while blending elemental wind energy into the pulsating orb of chakra.

'_Time for something new.'_ He thought before yelling out. "Gale force Rasengan!"

It was actually a simple variant to his RasenVortex, he just pushed the wind to flow in through the center of the Rasengan instead of flowing around it. This produced a very strong seemingly solid column of spinning air that drove through the center of Shino's attack, easily dispersing the flaming spheres of fire.

"I see, most impressive. You have such power that you are actually able to deflect an element that is inherently stronger than your own with ease." Shino stated calmly.

"Didn't you catch that earlier?" Naruto asked with a smile

"Of course but in general it does not hurt to confirm something firsthand. There was also the chance that you would succumb this time due to fatigue." Shino said.

The bug user shifted back a step falling briefly into a left stance but with his right hand pulled back further than it should be. He grimaced as Naruto fluidly jumped forward firing off a roundhouse kick to Shino's exposed outside high gate. Naruto had obviously gotten much better at taijutsu since their academy days. Shino stepped back to narrowly avoid the kick instead of tossing up his left hand for an outside high rear block and smiled, he had accomplished his goal. While his hand was hidden from Narutos view he had signaled Kiba. He was certain he could press and distract Naruto long enough for his teammate to arrive. Now that Shino had Naruto tagged it wouldn't matter how many clones he made, the Kikai would always know the original. His shadow clones were good, very good in fact but even though Narutos favored jutsu would likely replicate the female Kikai, his colonies would still be able to differentiate between the shadow clone Kikai and the real one for as long as she stayed attached to Narutos head band.

"Doton! Surging Earth Snare!" Shino called out as his hands flew through a short set of seals and he slammed his right hand into the ground.

Naruto felt the ground beneath him shift and he leaped as high as he could. He glanced down and could see a visible difference in the ground in a rough circle beneath him. He would land within the earth trap if he didn't change his trajectory in mid air. Luckily that was something Naruto had become quite adept at.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto called out.

As the clone appeared next to him it reached out and grabbed his jacket. The clone pulled hard on the orange and black cloth and sent Naruto flying off in a completely different direction, easily outside of the earth trap below. Shino glanced at the hole Naruto had created earlier to tap into the water table and sighed mentally. It was a little too far away to be useful right now.

"Doton! Tunneling Earth Escape!" Shino called out after his hands blurred again.

The ground around him rumbled and a large hole opened in the ground several meters in front of Shino. The hole was nearly two meters across and it disappeared straight down into darkness.

"I believe that your chakra is a wind type only, correct Naruto?" Shino called out as Naruto landed about ten meters away.

"No, wind only. Why? Does it matter?" Naruto smiled, he had never seen Shino talk this much and it was an oddly amusing change.

"Only that you showed me earlier that water is readily available here." Shino answered as once again his hands blurred. "Suiton! Rising Water Blast!"

Naruto scowled as a meter wide column of water erupted out of the hole Shino had made. He raised his hand to generate a RasenShuriken shield similar to the one he had countered Hiashi and the Hyuga elders fire attack earlier. He was glad that he was able to generate a mild version of the combination jutsu on his own now, even if he couldn't really use it offensively, yet. Rainbows danced along the edges of the stadium as the improvised shield deflected the blast of water and shattered it into a fine spray.

'_This may not be the best attack, no matter how strong it is but with the right twist to the air it makes an excellent block.'_ Naruto thought as he smiled to himself.

"Damn Shino you certainly seem to have an impressive range of jutsu there." Naruto called out.

"It is becoming well known that you are a powerful wind master so it seems pointless to use Lightning or Wind jutsu against you. Although I know several attacks based on those as well. Kurenai sensei has trained Team 8 with an extensive range of jutsu."

"Really?" Narutos eyes widened slightly and he stole a glance to Kakashi in the stands.

"Of course, she is an excellent jounin sensei." Shino replied.

"I wish I could say the same for mine." Naruto said in a barely audible whisper that had a touch of resentment.

Naruto became quiet as he wondered briefly what his life might have been like if he had a different sensei. His relationship with Kakashi had been more confrontational than anything else before he left with Jiraiya. He seemed to train himself more than anything else in those days. Kakashi had often times seemed to favor Sasuke. Recently though they had developed a more typical student teacher relationship. Sometimes the recent change in Kakashi's attitude towards his training puzzled the loud, blonde ninja in fact. Even with Jiraiya he had usually felt that he was training himself. Naruto was literally knocked out of his thoughts as Kiba came flying in landing a solid punch onto Narutos jaw.

"You can be easily distracted Naruto." Shino said softly as he calmly watched the blonde go flying. Naruto had obviously forgotten that Shino typically arranged multi level offensives, even if he relied on a team mate for a level.

"Gotcha! Man you are pathetic Naruto! I can't believe you beat me during the chuunin exams." Kiba said as he laughed and off in the distance a still shaky Akamaru barked in apparent canine laughter.

Hinata saw that Lee seemed to be slowing slightly, the exploding clones apparently had a greater effect earlier and she began to move to intercept him. He still wore that unnerving smile and he had been tossing a glance to Gai from time to time. Hinata was timing things just right and after he dissipated another Naruto clone and glanced over his shoulder to smile at Gai, Hinata lunged forward.

He must have seen Gai's expression change. Even though Gai said nothing he and Lee had simply worked together for too long for Lee not to be able to pick up on even the most subtle aspects of Gai's body language. As Hinata activated her Byakugan and struck forward, Lee spun and twisted over backwards to narrowly avoid her juken strike. Hinatas heart sank as he pulled one of his vanishing acts right before her. Although her Hyuga eyes at least allowed her to track his movements easily. He quickly shifted his trajectory and came sliding in fully intending to use a sliding variant of a drop side kick to come in under her guard and launch her into the air. Hinata though could easily see his movements and instead of standing there or attempting a block she threw herself forward into the air, curling into a tight ball as she spun over the sliding Lee. She quickly landed on her feet and smoothly spun around to continue facing her opponent.

For the briefest of moments Lee's smile seemed to falter. He had not expected that and her fluid grace even as she sailed through the air above him was very much apparent, especially with the way she landed. Hinata immediately saw that brief flicker and smiled herself.

"You can not defeat me Lee, you have yet to defeat Neji and you know as well as I that I am now better than he is." She said softly.

Lee stopped, stood to face her and bowed formally.

"Hinata you are quite lovely and I can see why Naruto finds you so captivating but as well as you hide your words of steel with your soft voice you will not find me so easy to defeat. I welcome your challenge for it will only make me stronger." His stunningly brilliant smile returned. "Besides, this match is not over yet!"

"You must be delusional if you still think you're going to be Hokage and you fall for something like that." Kiba yelled out.

Kiba stood there and laughed as Naruto picked himself up off the ground and glared at the young Inuzuka.

"Kiba…" Shino started to say but shrugged instead of continuing, some things his friend simply had to learn the hard way.

"What?" Kiba asked as he stopped laughing and looked to Shino puzzled.

"I told you not to underestimate me!" Naruto said softly

He reached into his pouch, pulled out a smoke grenade and threw it to the ground at his own feet. Hidden from view, his hands flew together and with a yell Naruto added even more smoke to the great ball of smoke he had disappeared into by creating a half dozen clones. Three clones came flying out of the smoke, while three more stayed with Naruto unseen. One quickly leaped into the air and pulled off one of Narutos odd henges.

Kiba and Shino fought with the three clones and they were quickly dispersed. Kiba jumped up and screamed out in victory while Shino got a sudden uneasy feeling. Looking up at the rapidly clearing smoke they saw two clones working together with Naruto on a truly massive RasenShuriken.

Shinos hood fell back from the wind and his eyebrows were readily visible in shocked amazement as they rose above his glasses. He and Kiba had been told about this from Chouji and Ino at dinner one night a few weeks ago when the members of Team Ten had told them about how Naruto had destroyed Kakuzu. He had even seen it to some degree as Naruto had used a slight variant as a shield not only against the Hyuga earlier but also against one of his own attacks a short time ago. This was different, very different. This was huge and the shimmering power could actually be felt as gusts, no blasts of wind peeled off of this monstrosity and ruffled everything that could move within fifty yards. The swirling mass of chakra at the center was nearly hypnotic but the blades of wind rotating around the Rasengan were simply horrifying when viewed from this angle. Shino stumbled backwards and promptly fell on his rear end.

Kiba was frozen in something between complete denial and (not that he would ever admit it) fear. Denial that such a powerful attack jutsu could not only exist but was something Naruto had created. Fear simply because he was a fifteen year old living being that simply did not have enough real experience facing anything along these lines. The only thing that compared was when he watched Gaara murder those grass genin years ago. Considering that this insane jutsu of Narutos had freaked out someone like Kakuzu that fear was expected and quite reasonable.

Naruto suddenly screamed out in apparent fury as he and the two clones launched himself towards Kiba.

"DAMN THAT KID! I told him not to use that thing! And he certainly shouldn't use it here against one of his friends!" Tsunade exclaimed as she started to leap up out of her chair.

Jiraiya though had grabbed her shoulder and held her down.

"Relax, that's not what it seems, look again, closely. Remember this is Naruto. Just sit down you're going to enjoy this one. Besides he's used variants of that jutsu already today and you didn't react." Jiraiya said as Kakashi looked over and simply nodded with an apparently broad smile under his mask.

"Those were much smaller, at least until he modified them into something safer than the RasenShuriken." Tsunade answered as she looked intently at Naruto before smiling herself. "Oh, so that's what he's up to. Pretty impressive, if he pulls it off."

Kiba threw his arms up, closed his eyes and screamed out as the RasenShuriken hit him. Despite feeling a massive multiple impact to his chin that sent him flying he seemed quite puzzled that he wasn't dead or at least why he was still (barely) conscious as he soared through the air. Opening his eyes he caught sight of the still spinning RasenShuriken being held up in the air over Narutos head. Just before he hit the ground there was a loud pop and the spinning mass of blue white death transformed into one of Narutos clones.

The clone promptly hit the ground still spinning and vanished in another puff of smoke. Years ago Naruto would have started laughing and berating Kiba but now there was only a brief look of satisfaction that flashed across his face before he ran forward creating another four clones as he ran. Kiba was just staggering to his feet despite his eyes being somewhat glazed over when the first three Narutos hit him. Each of the three clones had jumped into the air and each landed a flying side kick to Kiba. One to his head, one to his stomach and one to his lower left leg. The three clones had actually hit Kiba hard enough that the impact dispersed them. The remaining clone stayed back with Naruto and helped him form a typical Rasengan. Naruto darted forward and timed the hit so he buried the Rasengan into Kiba's stomach just as he was standing up.

Kiba seemed to hang there for a moment as Naruto lifted him up off the ground with the Rasengan spinning in his gut. As Kiba tried to scream out he started spinning around the Rasengan before he went sailing through the air, almost across the entire length of the stadium, still spinning. Before he could hit the wall though Akamaru shook off his own unsteadiness and launched himself into the air in an attempt to catch the flying Kiba. There was simply too much energy wrapped up in Kibas tumbling form and Akamaru was drawn up into the spinning mass as well. Luckily for the two of them Shino waved his arms and a cloud of Kikai launched themselves from the stadium walls to latch onto the two and start slowing them down. Sai also jumped in with some quick and sure strokes of his brush, he created an ink bear that managed to appear just in time to catch the still flying mass of Inuzuka, dog and Kikai. The ink structure collapsed from the impact but it had slowed down the rest so they collapsed on the floor with little impact. Sai ran over to check on Kiba just to be sure.

"I will be Hokage." Naruto said softly but with greater conviction than ever before, Shino looked at him, being the only one close enough to hear Narutos near growl of a statement and suddenly felt he was seeing the future.

Hinata took a deep breath. She fully intended to end the fight with Lee now. As the taijutsu specialist came barreling in towards her, her breathing slowed. Despite the fact that he had slowed down slightly he was still a formidable foe. She stole a glance to Naruto, just in time to see the whole fake RasenShuriken defeat of Kiba. She sighed when she saw him using a clone to create a basic Rasengan, he was either finally getting tired or he was trying to make their opponents believe he was getting tired. She didn't feel that she'd be able to pull off a sixty four palms attack against Lee just now she realized. The green clad ninja simply had too much experience facing Neji over the years. She'd have to completely surprise him like before to hit him with enough of the opening strikes to stun him enough in order to gain enough time to complete the full attack. Instead she simply seemed to be sparring with him. With her eyes he simply wasn't able to vanish on her. He was still a bit faster than her still but she felt that she had the real advantage with her Byakugan. Every time he came in for an attack she was able to close off one, two, sometimes even three of his tenketsu. It would take longer than a Hakke Rokujuuyonshou attack but until she could stun him enough that he couldn't retreat and escape, she was going to have to continue like this. At least every juken strike made him a little bit slower and all the juken hits were accumulative. As she readied herself for Lee's next attempted barrage she noticed Sakura trying to sneak up behind her. As Lee came rushing in Hinata switched tactics and instead of hitting him with a juken strike she latched onto his forearm. She twisted around while shifting her weight down and used Lee's momentum to launch him into the air heading straight for Sakura. Hinata frowned as she looked across the distance to see that Naruto wasn't actually facing anyone for the moment and that there was a strange soft light hovering over Narutos head.

'_Damn, Shino tagged him and he probably doesn't know.'_ Hinata thought.

Naruto turned to face Shino again. Naruto frowned, despite growing a good deal himself he was still a bit shorter than the young Aburame. Shino seemed slightly more skilled and had a bit longer reach but Naruto was a bit faster and seemed to be able to take more abuse, all in all they seemed to be roughly equal when it came to taijutsu. Naruto suddenly became alert as Shino hands blurred through several seals and he called out some odd jutsu that Naruto couldn't quite catch, light or something like that it seemed. He was a bit envious of Shino's seal making skills, while not in the same league as Kakashi or Jiraiya, Shino was a damn sight faster than he was. He didn't see or feel any ninjutsu or genjutsu so he cautiously advanced as Shino continued to face him with a guarded attitude. Naruto was surprised though when instead of raising his hands and bending his knees to enter some sort of stance or prepare a jutsu he simply stood there. Naruto took another cautious step forward and Shino suddenly broke apart into hundreds or possibly thousands of bugs as another one of his Mushi Bunshin dispersed.

'_Damn, he's just as good with using a kawarimi to change places with his clones as me and Hinata are. I wonder if it's any easier to keep a bug clone together through the shift than it is to keep a shadow clone stable.'_ Naruto wondered as the Kikai made a feint towards him before they vanished into the ground.

"I must admit, you are more skilled than Neji." Lee said as he quickly dodged around Sakura effortlessly and turned back to quickly engage Hinata again.

"I have no wish to hurt you Lee." Hinata answered

"Of that I am sure." Lee stole a quick glance to Sakura before oddly looking up to Tsunade. "But I am a different ninja than I was before. If I must I will open more gates in order to defeat you but I will not surrender on your words alone."

Lee began to concentrate fiercely and the very air around him began to waver. He had already opened two gates and he was about to open the third.

"LEE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Sakura screamed out.

"Do not worry Sakura. I know what I am doing." Lee answered with a smile.

"Lee, please…don't. I couldn't bear to see you hurt like that again." Sakura said softly pleading with her eyes as she timidly reached out and softly grasped his forearm.

"Sakura…I, um…I…" Lee was frozen in place by the look in her green eyes.

It was only a second or two that they stared at each other but it wasn't something that should be done in a fight. Not one to give up an opportunity Hinata jumped forward and took brutal advantage of the mistake her two friends had made. She was going to try something that was at best tricky.

"Hakke Rokujuuyonshou." Hinata said softly as she moved forward.

Hinata choose Lee first. Something told her that he was the more dangerous at this moment. Two palms, four palms. She shifted to Sakura and repeated the pattern, two palms, four palms. Back to Lee eight palms, switch to Sakura repeat eight palms. Sixteen palms to Lee and then sixteen palms to Sakura. She finished the 32 palms set of attacks on both and had started the final sixty four palms attack sequence on Lee when her Byakugan revealed that Sai was making a move towards her with some sort of dragon like ink construct. Something about it seemed different so Hinata pulled back away from her two targets. She hadn't finished but it wasn't likely that either of them would be fighting effectively any time soon.

She launched a kunai into the ink monster and instead of collapsing it shattered into about a dozen small dragons. She was about to enter her Shugo Hakke defense when she saw Naruto come sliding up to her.

Naruto and Hinata stood back to back again. Hinata had lanced a very light powered juken strike to Narutos headband and stunned the female Kikai that had taking up residency above his right ear buried in the black cloth. As soon as she did the shimmering light from Shino's marking jutsu faded away. Sai's multiple dragons suddenly faded and Hinata wondered if it had been some sort of genjutsu. Regardless of what it was it had given Sai enough time to get both Lee and Sakura outside of her range. Hinata pulled off a quick seal-less concentration of chakra. It wasn't enough to actually take any sort of true jutsu aspect but it did cause them both to shimmer for the briefest fraction of a second. She was sure at least one of their opponents must have caught the shimmer and assumed they had pulled off yet another kawarimi with a set of their remaining clones, even though they had not moved. Shikamaru was the first to launch an attack and his shadow lanced out to lock onto about a half dozen shadow clone pairs. Holding the dozen clones as he sent spikes of chakra through his shadow was taking a visible toll on him that became more evident with each clone he dispersed. Despite the sweat beginning to pour down the sides of his face and the slight shaking that quickly faded Shikamaru stood his ground.

Shikamaru sighed as his knees shook with borderline exhaustion. He had certainly gone a little overboard with his shadow techniques. Using Asuma's chakra knives had taken more out of him than he first realized. It was even more grueling now that he had to keep a good bit of distance between himself and any of the Naruto forms he captured with his shadow possession. None of the latest clones had been of the exploding variety but he just couldn't take any chances. Apparetnly after Lee had gotten the last three Naruto hadn't made any more. At least they were wearing the couple down he thought as a small smile played across his mouth, well at least Hinata was slowing slightly. He suddenly felt as though the very blood in his veins was beginning to freeze as a just barely visible haze suddenly appeared between Naruto and Hinata. The young Hyuga woman became obviously refreshed to a degree. To Shikamarus dismay at least a dozen pairs of clones reappeared throughout the engagement area of the stadium. Even worse they all smiled at their opponents, with far too many of them looking his way.

'_Oh man, why are they targeting me so damn much.'_ Shikamaru thought to himself even though he knew the answer.

Shino appeared to rise up out of the ground and reached over to lend Shikamaru a steadying hand.

"I think they're slowing down." Shikamaru stated.

"I doubt that it will be enough to matter with they way we are currently engaging them." Shino answered smoothly.

"You sound pretty sure of that."

"We are talking about Naruto. Are you sure you wish to make an assessment of him now based on what he is showing all of us? I can not be certain of the remainder of our team mates here but Kiba is effectively finished. Between using Garouga and his last encounter with Naruto he and Akamaru will be little more than targets for the rest of this fight. Although they will stay until they are knocked out or until the end as long as there is even a remote possibility that they can help the rest of us."

"Damn you're right. Hard to believe he was that kid in the academy who could barely pull off a henge." There was a tone of annoyance in Shikamaru's voice now.

"He has shown remarkable growth since the academy. In addition to the remarkable accomplishment of overcoming many of his apparently negative attributes I believe he is only beginning to realize his potential. After witnessing their match against Hinatas family I would have estimated that they had depleted a significant percentage of their chakra. Seeing them continue the way they have has proven that estimation wrong. Whatever training Naruto has been doing has greatly increased his chakra capacity to a degree that seems unbelievable. I would now estimate that without tapping directly into the Kyuubi chakra he must have chakra at least equal to that of two dozen jounin." Shino answered quietly.

"That's only the beginning of his potential?" Shikamaru turned to Shino with his eyes wide, not only from what Shino had said but from the bug user talking so much.

"Yes." Shino replied, never taking his eyes off of the couple they faced.

"Wait you said, without tapping directly into the Kyuubi chakra, does that mean he is tapping into it indirectly?"

"That is the most likely scenario. Correlating the data accumulated today with what I already knew of Naruto, I suspect that the seal the Yondaime used must somehow continuously convert some of the Kyuubi chakra into Narutos own chakra. I believe it is only when he is severely pressed or greatly angered that he accesses the Kyuubi chakra directly."

"You seem to know an awful lot about Naruto." Shikamaru stated with a puzzled expression.

"I have been working with him recently, along with the fact that Hinata is a teammate and friend demanded it. She has been attracted to him for a long time. Some aspects of her attraction to him seemed to be border on being unhealthy. Fortunately they have proved to be an exceedingly excellent match for each other."

"Man, I wouldn't say it was fortunate for us." Shino was borderline whining again as he looked on to their opponents.

"For us in this particular instance, no it is not. For any other circumstance and for Konoha itself this may be a truly optimal solution." Shino seemed deadly serious as Shikamaru looked on incredulously.

TenTen smiled, although there was a slight degree of irritation in her smile. Naruto and Hinata had nearly ignored her so far. It was annoyingly obvious that so far other than the short time she had worked with Chouji she had only faced their clones. Apparently they believed taking out the others was more important. Well she was about to show them just how big of a mistake that was. She was extremely familiar with fighting a Byakugan user and she had developed a few attacks that even Neji didn't know about. None of the situations earlier had seemed quite right for her to attempt this one. She was a little hesitant to use it since it took a bit more chakra than she cared to use. She pulled out one of her special scrolls. Leaping high up into the air as it unrolled she ran through a set of seals she had developed on her own and pushed a good chunk of her chakra into the seal written on the scroll. Picking one of the many Hinatas below at random she focused her chakra as the scrolls seals gave up a truly ridiculous number of senbon needles. The dark mass of thin steel needles billowed out behind her target like some sort of huge sinister umbrella. With a final hand sign she released her jutsu.

"Steel Rain no jutsu!" TenTen called out and the many thousands of needles converged on the dark haired form that she had chosen below.

TenTen was surprised at how many of the needles actually got through Hinatas defensive jutsu. She was also somewhat disappointed that her target disappeared in a cloud of smoke. There were at least a dozen of Hinata and Naruto shadow clones still fighting and she certainly didn't expect to get the original but it would have been nice. Still she gained some extremely valuable information with that attack. Tentens smile returned, she now knew the size and exact position of Hinatas 'blind spot'. It was not quite two degrees wide and it was a bit off center towards Hinatas left as it rose up behind her head.

TenTen glanced around, Kiba was back on his feet, again, thanks to Sai's help by the look of it. TenTen couldn't decide if he was done yet or if he was going to attempt to fight some more. That Inuzuka could certainly take one hell of a hit or even a dozen, although Akamaru looked like he was definitely finished. Sakura was still standing, although she had taken another good set of juken strikes from Hinata. Without her chakra the pink haired kunoichi was down to basic taijutsu. TenTen had watched her fellow kunoichi fight and had determined that while Sakura's defensive taijutsu was extremely impressive, without the pink haired kunoichi's inhuman strength she was a bit lacking offensively speaking. Lee looked like Hinata had just about finished him off as well.

'_Well at least he's used to that after all the times Neji jukened him into the ground over the years. Although he is still standing and he'll prove them very wrong if they underestimate him even now.'_ TenTen thought wryly to herself as she looked around some more.

Shikamaru was really looking like he was at the ragged edge. Shino looked fine but she wasn't sure if she would notice a difference in the young Aburame if he wasn't fine. TenTen concluded that if they were going to prevail here she was the one most likely to pull them through. She began taking slow deep breaths as she pulled out one more of her special scrolls. With a little luck she'd be able to pull off this one off without Hinata noticing. It was going to require her precision targeting ability coupled with near perfect timing.

TenTen pulled out a steel weight attached to a fine chain and starting pushing some of her chakra into the chain. This would require a multi prong attack in order to succeed against Hinata. After seeing the sand nin Kankuro manipulate his puppets with chakra strings TenTen had spent many long hours searching in an attempt to learn how to replicate his jutsu. She had discovered that it was a Suna secret art and there was no texts or teachers here that could give her insight learning how to generate such strings. After the disastrous Sasuke retrieval mission and what Neji had told her about how he had nearly been killed she began to work on her own direct control jutsu. She had often used wires when she needed to redirect her weapons and working with the few texts she had found on the subject in the Konoha tactical library, she had developed her own way to remotely control a single weapon in her arsenal with great precision.

TenTen launched herself into the air, tossing weapon after weapon Hinata's way. Finally Hinata spun around enough to expose her blind spot for a moment. TenTen let the weight fly. As Hinata turned TenTen continued to launch weapon after weapon. At the same time she guided the weight through the air so it stayed within Hinatas blind spot. After what seemed like forever to TenTen the dull but heavy weapon hit it's target with a nasty 'thunk' sound.

Hinata fell to the ground unconscious as the steel weight hit her in the back of her head and her blood began to flow rather quickly onto the ground.

Naruto froze as he looked down at his girlfriend with a thin but growing stream of blood flowing from a nasty gash in the back of her head. He glanced around to assess his remaining opponents. TenTen was obviously not only ready to continue fighting but pretty eager as well judging by the look on her face. Shino also looked as though he was just as ready to continue fighting as TenTen. The Aburame was just as expressionless as always and Naruto figured that was a bad sign. Sai was probably good to keep fighting although he'd been hanging back throughout the entire fight so far, Naruto felt he couldn't count on that continuing. In fact that was making Naruto very suspicious. Everyone else looked like they were about done but none of them looked like they were ready to give up like Ino and Chouji had. He glanced up to Tsunade and somehow knew that this is what she was hoping for, there was no way she was going to call the fight now. Naruto glanced back down to Hinata, he wasn't about to give up but he also wasn't about risk her getting hurt anymore. He glanced at his friends and he knew he didn't want to hurt them either. If he thought about it, he would have been amazed at how much more chakra he had at his control than he had just a few weeks ago. Now he felt that he was about done. He needed more power but he couldn't tolerate the side effects of using the damn fox's power. Unless…

He closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes he was now looking inward in a way. He stood before the sealed gate, looking up at the towering bars as the massive shadowed form within moved about.

"**What do you want now? Where is that sweet smelling little mind walker?"** The demons guttural voice emanated from the bars followed by a deep sniffing sound.

"I want the white chakra and you'll never touch her." Naruto glared at the demon as its eyes widened.

"**Fool, you will kill us both." **The fox answered completely forgetting about Ino.

"I can take your chakra by force if I have to."

"**You have to open all eight gates before you can even hope to force anything from me runt. That is something you do not want to do again, if you even can. HaHaHahahaha, you caught me by surprise last time. I'll be ready for you if you ever try that again."** The demon smiled in a very unsettling fashion. **"You do know that anyone else would have died doing that anyway and there is no guarantee that you would survive a second time you little fool."**

"What? All eight gates?" Naruto frowned in confusion.

The demon growled softly.

"**Idiot. Did you think you could simply tap into our power like that whenever you want to? When the eighth gate is opened your body itself is nearly completely converted into chakra. If I wasn't there rebuilding you after you opened the final gate we would both be dead now, they wouldn't even have your body to bury. Even then, with the speed of the conversion I was barely able to keep your body intact after you opened the eighth gate, one little slip on my part and we die. Try to pull my chakra by force from me again and not only will you fail in that but we probably won't be as lucky as we were the last time."**

Naruto looked at the demon with a confused expression. The demon actually sighed, it was rather aggravating being the one trying to explain something to the blonde young man. He had gotten a few chuckles over the years eavesdropping on Kakashi and Jiraiya trying to explain things to Naruto.

"So there's no way to create the white chakra then?"

"**You don't need that stuff, just release me and I'll solve all your problems."** The demon chuckled.

"I've told you before that isn't going to happen. Remember I die, you die. The more of your chakra I use the sooner that is going to happen."

"**Fool you are always using my chakra now. Wasn't that the whole point of the stupid training you are doing with Kakashi and that other one? This damnable seal is constantly converting some of my chakra into yours."**

"That's not what I mean and you know it furball. I need more power from you without killing myself." Naruto glared at the demon.

"**So you think this white chakra will solve that problem?"**

"I think it's worth a shot. Wouldn't you like to actually work with me for once?"

"**Not really kid. You know, I almost like you but what I'd really like would be to get out of here to kill you once and for all. How does that violent one always say it, oh yes, 'you're annoying'. Besides one thing has always been true of great power, it pretty much always comes with a great price."**

"O.K. then what's the price of the white chakra then? Because the price of using your chakra is too high."

"**I have no idea. In all my thousands of years I don't remember ever encountering anything like it. I did find it annoying, it seems to take all the fun out of charging you up."** The fox chuckled.

"Don't you kind of know everything."

"**You're kidding right? I know more than you but that isn't hard, hahahaha. If I knew as much as you believe you would have died on the day you were born along with your entire village. Your precious 'Fourth' certainly caught me by surprise that day."**

"O.K., o.k. already, we'll be here forever if we start arguing about that. Are you going to help me here or not?"

The fox really had no desire to help his jailer but he was somewhat curious about this 'white chakra'. It had been millennia since he came across something seemingly related to his own power that he didn't understand. As much as the very thought of working with the hyper active Naruto made his skin crawl under his fur, it was something new and it did get quite boring in his cage. Besides one never knew, often times something new also contained many opportunities. With a little luck maybe, just maybe, this white chakra might give him a key to finally escape his prison. It certainly wasn't likely to make his situation worse.

The nine tailed demon fox smiled to himself.

"**Kid either you must be growing on me or the boredom here is getting to me, just this once, instead of merely flooding you with my chakra, I'll try to work with you on this."** This time the fox smiled visibly.

Naruto was suddenly very suspicious, he simply couldn't bring himself to trust the demon but he didn't see any other way to get what he wanted. Somehow he knew the fox wasn't lying about the risks of opening all eight gates a second time and he felt the fox was also correct that Naruto wouldn't be able to forcibly pull the foxes chakra from the demon even with all eight gates open.

"So how do we start?" Naruto asked cautiously.

"**I'm not really sure, I'd say you'd have to open at least the first three, maybe four celestial gates and you're going to have to get angry, very angry."**

"Angry?"

"**Definitely, not the typical anger you usually have running around in your head, you have to call on the same intense fury that you had when you thought Hinata died. You have to submerge yourself completely into all of the anger in your life until everything is burned away and you become calm."**

Naruto thought intensely, his memory of the white chakra was nothing more than a few fragments, dim, hazy fragments at that. Still there what the fox said made sense.

"What else?"

"Be ready to open more gates, just don't open all of them. I'll try to balance my chakra with yours but I think that you're the one that is going to have to do the actual blending of our two chakras into the white chakra. It might just happen on its own but be ready to make adjustments on your end of things."

'_KAIMON RELEASE!'_ Naruto thought to himself, opening the first gate and feeling the surge of power.

He thought back to his earliest memories. All the times the villagers had glared at him, cursed him, spat at him. The aching emptiness as he watched other children his age with their parents and the anger that quickly followed all the times he thought about how alone he was. His anger only grew when he recognized the grudging resentment in the teachers faces when he started at the academy.

'KYUMON RELEASE!' He opened the second gate.

He thought back to all the times Sakura had violently rejected him only to fawn over the stuck up Uchiha. All the times Kakashi had left him to train on his own while seeming to always have plenty of time for Sasuke. Sasuke. All these years and still he couldn't beat Sasuke. He could go on for days with all the times Sasuke had angered him.

'SEIMON RELEASE!' The third gate opened.

The damn fox. All the crap in his life could be traced back to the damn fox one way or another, it was all the fault of the nine tailed demon sealed in his stomach.

Naruto looked down at Hinata. It was like she was being taken away from him again. His anger rose and he suddenly felt cold. He closed his eyes.

'SHOMON RELEASE!' He wrenched open the fourth gate.

Narutos chakra seemed to explode. A huge sphere of blue light enveloped him as a strange chakra induced shock wave washed over the entire arena and he slowly stepped over the fallen form of Hinata. Kibas eyes went wide as he looked into Narutos eyes and saw that they had turned red and the pupils had shifted to slits. The red color was suddenly overpowered by the blue chakra and blue flames seemed to poor out of Narutos eyes. Everyone gasped as streamers of red chakra suddenly appeared intermixed within the blue sphere. The red and blue colors swirled incredibly fast, growing brighter and brighter each second. As the colors merged there was a flare of light and the red and blue colors faded as the two chakras shifted to a luminescent white. The sphere of energy contracted to just off a few inches off of Narutos skin as long ear like streamers appeared over his head and a single glowing white tail formed behind him.

The single tailed glowing white Naruto-fox quickly glanced around and immediately formed a jittery looking Rasengan in his right hand that looked like it was about to jump out of his hand. Every body in the stadium eyes grew wide in shock as Narutos left hand blurred for a brief moment with a one handed seal. With an odd hissing pop four more glowing Naruto-fox clones appeared to surround Naruto and Hinata. Most unsettling was the fact that each of the four held their own Rasengan. They each crouched low and their left hands came up slightly with their fingers curled enough that it became obvious that their finger nails were more like claws.

The original lifted his Rasengan above his head. With a surge of power he caused it to grow into a large hollow Rasengan. Forming an opening at the bottom of the spinning sphere he increased its size even more before pulling it down so that he and Hinata were completely enclosed within the spinning mass of chakra. The four clones each took a few steps forward causing everyone on the arena floor to back up.

Jiraiya looked to Tsunade with a quick glance.

"Are you happy now?" He asked as he locked his gaze back to the glowing white Naruto.

"You know I had to see this, so did you. I take it, that is the demon fox 'cloak' you've talked about." She replied her eyes riveted on Naruto below.

"Sort of, although usually the cloak is formed with the demons read chakra." Jiraiya replied.

Kakashi and Yamato glanced at each other.

"Should we stop him?" Kakashi asked the Hokage.

"No, not yet, this is important. The kids should be o.k. if I'm right about him right now."

A/N – Yeah the sheer amount of chakra Naruto was drawing on is a little on the insane side. My theory is based on the comment Kakashi made about Naruto eventually having one hundred times the chakra Kakashi has. So I figure here that Naruto would be somewhere between roughly twenty to twenty four times the chakra level that Kakashi is at. I'm going with it being mostly a side effect of the Fourth's seal, such that the seal is continuously converting the Kyuubi chakra into Narutos chakra. It also has to be one of those things that Naruto has to develop but the more he works at it the larger the amount of chakra being converted gets. This theoretical conversion process would also work faster the lower his chakra gets, so it would take almost the same amount of time for Naruto to rebuild his chakra from near zero to roughly ¼ than it would going from 90 percent to 100 percent. In a high stress situation Naruto can bypass the conversion process and draw on the Kyuubi chakra directly. While good for a big boost in a near instant that has its own negative side effects

The next chapter should not take anywhere near as long as this one did and it will be shorter. Hopefully it'll be done by December.


	19. Chapter 19 Battles End

A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is the Manga books from 1 to 24 along with the first four uncut DVD box sets.

This finally finishes up the fight.

Ch. 19

Shikamaru's mouth hung open in shock. Naruto stood in the center of the four clones he had generated. The massive shell like Rasengan he stood within completely covered him and Hinata. The luminescent Naruto shifted his left hand slightly, apparently to maintain the spinning shell of blue-white energy. The Rasengans the clones held were slightly steadier than when they had first appeared and Shikamaru thought furiously about that before smiling slightly.

"I take it this is Naruto tapping into the Kyuubi chakra directly?" Shikamaru asked Shino.

"Perhaps. Something is different though, from what I've read and seen when he taps directly into the Kyuubi the visible chakra should be red."

"He's got to be somehow combining his own chakra with the Kyuubi's then to make this white stuff. Something else is wrong too." Shikamaru became lost in thought as the gears turned in his head.

"He must be near his limit." Shino stated, far too calmly in Shikamaru's opinion.

"Yeah but most of us are past ours. Man I wish Chouji had stayed, he wasn't that badly beat up."

"He took a lot of punishment and even though Hinata had not finished the 64 palms attack, she had disabled him well enough that he shouldn't continue."

"Chouji is tougher than that, he would have stuck it out if Ino hadn't been mentally hammered very badly." Shikamaru glanced around at their remaining teammates. "Are you certain that Kiba is done for?"

"He still has the option of the Hyorogan military ration pills. Normally in an assessment situation like this I would advise him against using them but not only is this fight different, I would say he'd rather continue facing Naruto." Shino replied.

"O.K. then we still have a good chance then. Can you pull off your summoning?"

"Yes, but I will require a few Hyorogan myself and there is a good chance it would be ineffective against Naruto right now."

"I can provide you with some Hyorogan, Chouji keeps me and Ino well stocked with ones made by his family. I've got plenty for you too. What do you mean about 'ineffective' against Naruto?"

"That will not be necessary, Kiba does the same with the Hyorogan made by his family for myself and Hinata. I have been working with Naruto under the Hokages orders to breed a strain of Kikai that can feed on Bijuu chakra. The initial results, while promising for a long term breeding project also indicate that at this time the use of any of the insects I can command may be nearly useless against the Kyuubi chakra."

"Damn. You estimated he must have a chakra level roughly equal to about two dozen jounin right?"

"That is only a rough estimate and I would say it is the higher end. His chakra could be closer to eighteen typical jounin."

"That is pretty much the same as my own estimations, go tell Kiba to get ready, I've got to talk to Lee. Bring him over to us, I've got an idea. Hopefully it'll work even without your summons" Shikamaru said as he ran off in the direction where Lee was still standing with TenTen, Sakura and Sai.

"Are you really sure about this?" Jiraiya asked Tsunade up in the stands.

"Of course, you know as well as I do that we need to know more about this white chakra. Besides they're all tagged so the Anbu can pull them out in an instant if things get out of hand. You know as well as I do that with you, Kakashi and Yamato here, the three of you can stop him as long as he doesn't go any further than two tails." She answered with a slight tone of irritatation.

"Hmmph." Was all Jiraiya could come up in reply as the others around them looked on nervously.

"You are taking a rather large gamble with the lives of many promising young ninja don't you think? After all we don't know if this white chakra is stronger or weaker than when he utilizes the Kyuubi chakra like this. We also have no idea how much he is in control right now." Kakashi said softly.

"One thing I learned about Naruto, betting on him really isn't gambling. Besides the three of you have all seen him in a tailed state, has he ever once initiated a defensive posture when he's enclosed in the demon fox's cloak?" Tsunade glanced at the silent shinobi surrounding her. "I didn't think so." She said with a smug smile.

"O.K. here's what we're going to do, we're going to use something along the lines of one of Narutos new tactics on him right now. Kiba, Lee this is really going to hinge on the two of you. TenTen, Sai, I'm going to need the two of you to give Kiba and Lee the distraction they need to not only open things up but to give them the info they need to succeed. Shino and I will hopefully finish him off. Sakura I know you can't fight effectively but you could be very critical right now if some of my suspicions are correct." Shikamaru stated quickly while glancing up at Naruto quickly.

Shikamaru outlined the rest of his plan to the others and they all smiled. It likely wouldn't be easy but they all felt that it would succeed.

"Are you sure that the clones are only Bunshin and not Kage Bunshin?" TenTen asked in a whisper.

"Definitely, I know shadows and there's just no way I can see that one of his shadow clones can easily be formed with something like a real Rasengan when it's generated. Especially after all he's gone through with day of fighting like today. Once one of his clone sis created I bet it can easily build its own Rasengan but I don't think the clone and Rasengan can be generated together like that." Shikamaru answered.

"What if you're wrong?" TenTen asked.

"Throw more kunai, just don't forgot your primary target is that shield." Shikamaru said as he gave a glance to Sai who nodded.

The dark haired girl smiled briefly before she turned to Lee and frowned. Her crazy friend was getting entirely too close to Sakura for TenTen's tastes.

Lee looked like he was about to keel over in pain as his face tightened in a grimace that his teammate found all too familiar. TenTen was tempted to say something when Sakura spoke up instead.

"Lee, I don't think you should continue fighting, you'll hurt yourself again." The pink haired young woman pleaded.

"Don't listen to her Lee, she doesn't know you well enough to ask that." TenTen said before she turned away.

TenTen jumped high in the air while still scowling at Sakura's words to Lee and quickly tossed off four kunai shortly after leaving the ground. Hopefully Lee listened to her words and not Sakuras. The four Naruto clones popped without so much as trying to deflect the weapons and TenTen smiled.

'_Shikamaru was right, they were simple Bunshin.'_ She thought as she flew further upwards and pulled out a scroll.

TenTens hands blurred and she threw dozens of kunai as they popped out of the scroll towards the spinning blue sphere below. The trajectory of each as they bounced off the strange Rasengan based shield was very obvious to her from her altitude and as a mass of Sai's ink creations impacted the sphere as well she was sure that everyone would be able to see that the ink and kunai were all deflected in the same direction. She softly landed near Shikamaru and looked over to him quickly.

"Clockwise." She told him quickly as Kiba and Lee looked on.

Kiba was still feeling the rush of popping a few too many Hyorogan. He had Akamaru sitting this one out. Normally his canine companion would argue over something like that but the vibe coming off of Naruto simply had too much of the demon fox in it for the dogs comfort. He looked to Shikamaru and waited. As TenTen landed and gave them the necessary info through a quick hand signal Kibas smile broadened as Shikamaru looked his way.

"Did you get that?" Shikamaru asked Kiba and Lee.

"Clockwise, right?" Kiba said with a grin as he leaped into the air and began spinning.

"Lee?" The young Nara asked turning slightly.

"Give me a moment more." Lee gasped out.

"Lee, please…" Sakura started.

"Leave him alone!" TenTen snarled in a way that stunned Sakura.

"SEIMON, GATE OF LIFE, **RELEASE!**" Lee gasped out as he clenched his fists and his skin started to turn red.

"Lee…" Sakura started to say as she reached out to him.

"I said leave him alone! He knows what he is doing." TenTen hissed at Sakura with a vicious glare as she knocked Sakura's hand away.

"SHOMON, GATE OF PAIN, **RELEASE!**" Lee nearly shouted as the ground around him shook and his skin turned a bright red as the veins on his forehead became visible.

Sakura looked on while on the verge of tears as Lee seemed to vibrate. TenTen on the other hand looked on with a smile. Lee glanced up to Tsunade for a brief moment and gave her a slight bow. The Hokage looked down and smiled to Lee herself before giving him a slight nod of approval. Lee vanished as he headed off to back up Kiba.

"He's going to hurt himself again." Sakura whispered.

"You really don't know him or your own master very well do you." TenTen sighed.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Are you really so arrogant that you think you are the only student Tsunade has taken on since she returned to Konoha? Do you really think she would go through with that operation after his fight with Gaara and not think up a way for him to mitigate the effects of the gates somewhat? He's stronger than you think."

"But Lee can't use chakra."

"He may not be able to really use ninjutsu or genjutsu, even in that state but he has learned some interesting things from Tsunade about manipulating his chakra internally. She is the greatest kunoichi ever." TenTen said with a smile.

Kiba came flying across the stadium floor, his spinning form occasionally touching the floor. He rapidly closed the distance between himself and the spinning blue orb of chakra. Shifting his angle slightly he slammed into the side at an angle, hitting it in a counter clockwise direction. There was a short lived, strange ringing sound throughout the stadium as Kiba was reflected off of the spinning energy but after briefly hitting the ground without stopping his attack he flew back into the spinning energy a second time, causing another quick outburst of ringing. He repeated this four more times, circling the shielded Naruto two complete times with the six impacts before he hurled himself high into the air. Kiba came flying back down after completing a sharp turning at the height of his leap and impacted the spinning sphere directly above Narutos head.

The Rasengan shield compressed but did not collapse. There were odd ripples that emanated from the point of Kiba's impact that caused the entire structure to waver and shake as a seventh loud ringing noise peeled off of the shield but despite being louder the previous six hits it was just as short lived. Kiba was thrown off into the distance disappearing into the bushes one more time as Naruto grimaced, closing his eyes for a brief second as he fought the urge to grasp the sides of his head. During that brief moment of blindness he completely missed the second blurred form flying in above him to follow up on Kibas attack.

The green blur arced in, slamming into the spinning shell of chakra with a tremendous crash. A huge cloud of dust billowed out and every small loose object within the stadium fluttered about for a moment. All of the remaining combatants outside of the cloud looked on in a brief moment of wide eyed surprise as the wind ruffled their clothes just before the cloud enveloped them and they all had to squeeze their eyes shut. The sphere collapsed while absorbing almost all of the energy from Lee's impact. Finding himself slowed tremendously while still in mid air Lee nimbly dropped the remaining distance to the ground a mere few inches away from Naruto. He carefully avoided stepping on Hinata and easily shifted his feet to give himself some stability. Lee smiled.

"You're not touching her." Naruto growled softly, his voice unnervingly distorted as he slowly focused his eyes on Lee.

"She's not my target Naruto-san." Lee replied as his hands seemed to disappear and a rapid series of strikes lashed out to hit Naruto across his chest and stomach.

Lee landed one last really good hit across Narutos jaw and leaped back as Naruto reeled. Unfortunately Naruto wasn't effected nearly as much as Lee had hoped, in fact he hadn't even been pushed back at all. Lee looked at his blond friend standing over Hinata and realized it'd probably be easier to actually kill Naruto than to get him to move from that spot. Suddenly Narutos right white chakra hand shot forward as his real arm lifted within the glowing energy. Lee flipped over backwards, just barely flowing under the white hand of energy before hurling himself out of what he thought should have been the limit of the white energies range. Unfortunately the chakra arm lengthened and enlarged suddenly. Lee found himself caught in a vise like grip of glowing energy. Oddly enough they both smiled.

"Looks like I have you now Lee." Naruto chuckled in that disturbingly distorted voice.

"Do you really think so?" The red skinned Lee asked as he smiled himself.

Lee closed his eyes and concentrated. He was constantly amazed at how much more he could do in this state. He twisted slightly within the grip of Narutos chakra hand getting a feel for the tightness holding him and then suddenly he spun like a top.

"Konoha Tornado!" Lee screamed out.

The chakra hand exploded, showering everyone with shimmering pieces of white chakra that had small bits of red and blue pseudo flames of chakra appear on each fragment of white before each piece faded. Lee flew through the air looking very much like Kiba's Gatsuuga attack. As Lee landed lightly to his feet with a huge gleaming smile that really stood out from his current skin color he looked back and his smile faded. Naruto had a vicious snarl etched on his face and the right white chakra hand that Lee had just disrupted quickly reappeared.

Shikamaru gave one last glance to the green pill in his hand and thought back to the time Chouji gave it to him just a few weeks ago.

---flashback---

"Seriously Shikamaru, please take it. I hope you never need it but after the fight with those two Akatsuki freaks I'd feel better if you at least had the option."

"Man Chouji you don't have to do this, besides won't your family give you a lot of grief over giving one of these to someone outside of your clan?"

"Nah, it's o.k. everyone trusts you. Just keep in mind, it hurts like hell to use it. You can't use the other two since you don't have the awesome body of an Akimichi, even the yellow pill would likely kill you instantly but the green one should be o.k., well other than the pain anyway. Besides a guy who can break his own finger to snap out of a genjutsu can handle a little pain right.?"

"I only dislocated it. I didn't break it." He replied to his large friend.

"Ah, what's the difference anyway? Just consider it insurance, with a little luck you'll never have to use it. After all the Akimichi Hyorogan are the best and since you've got plenty of those you'll likely never need the green Horengan." Chouji smiled.

Shikamaru felt an odd chill at his friends strange smile. He'd known Chouji most of their lives and he'd never seen anything like that smile on Chouji's face before. He accepted the green pill.

---end flashback---

Shikamaru popped the pill, chewed it and swallowed. He immediately doubled up in pain and groaned as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Are you o.k.?" Shino asked.

"Yeah, don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Shikamaru nearly snarled as he spoke through gritted teeth and his eyes snapped open at the sudden surge of power and his head seemed to spin. His vision swam from both the pain and the power as he struggled to stay standing.

Shino took a step back as he swallowed his own Hyorogan and felt his own chakra increase dramatically. Shino's hands blurred through roughly a half dozen or so seals.

"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!" The normally soft spoken Aburame yelled out.

A dark cloud seemed to erupt out of the ground in a column nearly five meters across. Shikamaru forced himself to look up and smile as the largest swarm of bugs he'd ever seen in his life appeared. Shino raised his arms and the cloud of what had to be millions of Kikai slowly shifted.

"They seem a bit sluggish compared to your Kikai." Shikamaru hissed out through gritted teeth as he fought back the waves of pain coursing through his body.

"These are nearly wild relative of the Kikai. After the Suna-Sound invasion we have been allowed to encourage a few massive colonies just outside of Konoha. While they are as a hive are a bit more intelligent than Kikai they are not quite as developed in several ways as their cousins we ourselves host." Shino replied using his normal his soft spoken manner.

The huge cloud moved towards Naruto and their target turned slightly to give it a harsh glare before his gaze returned to Lee. The seal on his stomach pulsed and for a moment a soft red light shined through his shirt and jacket. The glowing white demon fox cloak took on a tinge of red and the dark cloud of insects veered away. Shino grimaced, he could attempt to force the beetles but that could endanger the summoning contract. Since it was a very new contract that had only his and his fathers name on it he decided this situation was simply not important enough to make that gamble. With a single hand seal he concentrated a bit of his chakra into his hands and whispered.

"Release." The entire cloud vanished. "I am sorry Shikamaru, as I feared that will not work in this situation." Shino said softly, frowning as the sheath of energy surrounding Naruto shifted back to white.

"I think it doesn't matter. Sakura you're up." Shikamaru gasped out with an odd smile despite the obvious pain he was in as he brought his hands together and his shadow began to lengthen.

Sakura ran forward quickly pulling out a kunai while the dark line of Shikamaru's extended shadow followed her. She grimaced slightly as she made three quick slashes on her upper left arm and tossed the kunai to the side as her blood welled up on her arm. As she closed in on Naruto she threw herself to the ground and slid towards him.

"Na-Naruto." Sakura said with a slight shake in her voice.

Naruto spun to face this new threat as he heard her voice and froze as his eyes locked onto the red marks on her arm. His eyes grew wide and he took a faltering half step back.

'_The one who hurt Sakura was you Naruto.'_ Naruto heard Sensei Yamatos voice echo through his head.

The fuzzy memory bubbled up in his mind as he looked on the red lines that resembled claw marks. He looked down at Sakura and he felt as if his very blood was beginning to freeze as he looked into her quivering eyes and trembling body. He squeezed his eyes closed tightly and shook his head.

'_No, not claw marks that was from a tail...I think'_ He thought as the rough memory became slightly clearer and he stole a quick glance behind himself to eye the twitching white tail.

"P-please, don't hurt me…again." She said, her eyes pleading as she forced herself to shed a few tears.

"Sakura." Naruto said softly and the white energy enclosing him faded slightly.

The two long time friends stared at each other for what seemed like a long moment. Naruto never noticed the dark line of shadow as it arced around Sakura and shot out to him. His gaze shot down as he felt his legs lock and he realized that he had fallen victim to Shikamaru's shadow possession jutsu. His eyes tracked the black line back and sure enough it ended in a dark pool beneath the smiling Shikamaru.

Lee suddenly appeared next to Sakura and helped her to her feet.

"Sorry about that Naruto." Sakura said with a smile as she darted behind Lee.

The white energy brightened as Naruto grimaced while Shikamaru suddenly started to sweat with the strain of holding him.

"That wasn't fair Sakura." Naruto growled with that unnerving voice.

"It was just as fair as the two of you using my image against Lee." She called out as she slowly began to edge back to the small knot of her team mates.

Naruto snarled and the dark shadow locked to his feet began to quiver. Shikamaru grunted as he forced more of his energy into the darkness. Several shadow hands appeared to grow out of the dark inky pool beneath Naruto. There was one for each of his limbs and they quickly locked the twitching Naruto to the point where he couldn't move at all. A fifth shadow hand wrapped itself around Narutos neck and Shikamaru caused it to squeeze lightly.

"Give it up Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled out as Sakura retreated and Lee stayed within striking distance.  
"I DON'T GIVE UP!" Naruto shouted back.

Naruto inhaled deeply and screamed as he pushed a good chunk of chakra out of his body. The white energy brightened once again and with a loud shout Naruto screamed out as the shadow hands seemed to shatter. Suddenly free to move Naruto collapsed to his knees as sweat poured off of his face.

"Damn it, he has gone so far past troublesome I don't even know what to call him." Shikamaru grumbled.

"What next?" Shino asked in an oddly calm voice.

"Don't worry I'm not done yet." Shikamaru answered as he concentrated once again.

Naruto struggled to his feet as the shadow lanced out again. Once again the darkness locked onto Naruto and the blackness simply grew up his legs. This time there were no shadow hands, just darkness wrapping completely around the blond genin. In a moment Naruto was completely covered by the shadow and the entire arena seemed to dim as the white light enclosing Naruto faded.

The stadium grew quiet for a brief moment as the shadow wrapped Naruto stopped moving. Everyone held their breath for a moment. Was the fight finally over everyone wondered.

Suddenly an oddly soft red light appeared through the darkness over Narutos stomach. The light brightened and shifted to a soft blue before pulsing to a soft white before a brighter blue appeared then red again

White.

Blue.

Red.

The light on the dark figure continued to cycle through those colors getting slightly brighter each time. Tsunade took a sharp intake of breath.

"Get ready you three, just in case." The Hokage said softly.

Suddenly there was a massive pulse of white light and the shadows wrapping around Naruto seemed to shatter and then disappeared. The shattering shadows fragmented the line connecting Naruto and Shikamaru for another three meters away from Naruto before the entire line of shadow vibrated and then steadied. Shikamaru fell to one knee and concentrated fiercely as Naruto fell again, this time to his hands and knees both of them were shaking as they breathed deeply in ragged gasps.

Naruto looked down at the soft features of Hinata, her face mere inches away from his own. A look of steely determination fell across his face and his shaking slowed. As he looked up he glared at Shikamaru and rose to his feet while the shaking faded.

Tsunade relaxed slightly as she saw that the pulsing light coming from Narutos stomach had faded. Unknown to everyone the seal was in fact still pulsing through the cycle of three colors, just not bright enough to be seen through his shirt and jacket. Naruto himself was unaware that anything was happening to the seal.

Shikamaru was now very irritated. Still he smiled as he concentrated. The dark shadow suddenly seemed to impossibly get darker as the line also thickened. The shadow suddenly split and two lines quickly shot out etching a dark ring seemingly in an instant that was centered around Naruto and Hinata. As the ring steadied it became a perfect circle that was about six meters across. Naruto eyed the dark ring suspiciously and it suddenly jumped up almost a full meter. Naruto and Hinata were now encircled with a short but thin wall of darkness. Shikamaru took a few more deep breaths before concentrating again. The shadow wall jumped up again, its upper edge shrinking as it rose until the upper edge closed itself off leaving Hinata and Naruto trapped in a half sphere of darkness.

"Kagerou no jutsu, complete." Shikamaru whispered, still on one knee but smiling as his shadow prison locked their opponents away. This was actually the first time he had ever successfully used the shadow prison technique on someone. Usually it took more chakra than he readily had available to generate one large enough to trap someone. Thanks to Chouji he was able to pull off this jutsu successfully.

Naruto stood motionless in the darkness. He couldn't see anything, not even his own glowing self was visible. He felt as though he could not move as well. He tried to look down and he felt a sudden wave of panic when he realized that he couldn't tell if Hinata was there or not. His panic faded slightly as he concentrated and dimly felt her through the link. The darkness must be more than simply a sphere of shadow he realized, it was doing something to either his mind or vision.

'_Genjutsu.'_ His voice snarled in his head.

Well he could fight that as easily as he fought the darkness. However good Shikamaru might have gotten with genjutsu Naruto doubted that he could compare to that damn Itachi. Naruto smiled as he began to build up his chakra. He was feeling ragged and knew that however ridiculously high his new power was, he was rapidly approaching his current limit. Still despite the darkness he smiled as he felt the tight ball of chakra build up in the center of his chakra network. Unknown to him the seal on his stomach was pulsing even more.

"How much longer?" Shino asked.

"He should be unconscious in a few moments once the shadow prison completely settles over his mind and body." Shikamaru replied.

"What of Hinata?"

"She should be fine." Shikamaru paused. "Shit."

They all looked on as bright jagged lines suddenly appeared on a spot on the surface of the sphere. The lines quickly spread across the entire surface and suddenly brightened with a brilliant light that was tinged with blue. With a roar from Naruto the sphere shattered, sending quickly fading fragments of darkness sailing through the air. There was an odd shockwave that traveled back through the dark line coming from Shikamaru. With a soft moan the young Nara's eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground. Shino quickly dropped to check Shikamaru.

"Oh man, what a drag." Shikamaru muttered as his eyes flickered open.

"Unconscious in a few moments?" Shino stated while shaking his head.

"Yeah well, it's Naruto after all." Shikamaru stated softly.

Tsunades eyes widened in shock as she looked down and saw the pulsing colors emanating from Narutos stomach. She quickly signaled Jiraiya, Kakashi and Yamato.

'_He can be so loud sometimes.'_ Hinata thought fuzzily as Narutos roar echoed in her ears and her eyes fluttered slightly.

Time seemed to crawl and she was stunned to see the luminescent glowing Naruto standing over her and she saw something that nearly stopped her heart. The seal on Narutos stomach was pulsing oddly. It flashed white, then blue, then red before glowing brilliantly white again. The aching pain from the back of her head vanished as a sick feeling of fear pushed everything else out of her perceptions. Somehow her Byakugan had activated and she watched the red skinned Lee bend over backwards narrowly missing a strike by Narutos 'tail' as she also watched Jiraiya, Kakashi and Yamato hurl themselves into the fight. Her fear grew as a second white luminescent tail formed and both of Narutos chakra arms extended with unbelievable speed even with the odd slowing of time and her active Byakugan. The two arms seemed to almost seemed to carefully pluck both Jiraiya and Kakashi out of the air but the seemingly soft impact sent each of them flying over the stadium walls. Yamato sensei seemed to fair a bit better for a moment as he extended his hands towards Naruto. The pulsing seal seemed to calm for a moment as the red flashes stopped completely and the white chakra seemed to shrink for a moment.

Naruto suddenly gripped the sides of his head and howled as the seal pulsed with a brilliant blue light. Hinata gasped as the seal pulsed black for a moment before returning to the glowing blue. The two tails took on a bright blue hue as they swung forward over his head to knock Yamato sensei to the ground, apparently unconscious and the seal started to pulse again with white, red and blue colors.

Before Hinata could react Lee reappeared out of nowhere. He was moving so fast that he actually blurred even to her Hyuga eyes. Naruto stopped clutching his head and the eerie white hands stretched again to strike forward in an attempt to grab Lee again. Astonishingly Lee leaped up onto the right chakra arm, ran along it somehow before leaping over to the left arm and running further before he landed directly in front of Naruto.

Hinata actually felt shock waves pushing down on her as Lee launched a barrage of punches to Narutos body and head. Naruto reeled under the onslaught but somehow held his ground. There was an odd pulse of energy that seemed to emanate from Narutos stomach that sent Lee flying. Hinata couldn't believe it but Lee was actually smiling as he was tossed back. Lee's smile suddenly vanished as the seal on Narutos stomach got even brighter as it pulsed faster and Lee noticed it for the first time. The green clad ninjas expression got suddenly serious as his smile vanished as fast as he himself often did. He now realized that the fight had changed and was no longer a simple assessment fight.

'_If I start to lose it, slap this seal on my forehead. Immediately.'_ Lee heard Narutos voice clear as a bell as his memory brought back the time he had taught the basics of the gates to Naruto. Lee suddenly understood what Naruto was talking about. Even the white chakra cloak hadn't unsettled Lee but that pulsing light certainly did. Lee took a quick look around as he reached into one of his pockets and touched the piece of paper Naruto had given him weeks ago. Gai was edging around and Lee knew that Naruto was probably watching them both warily. Lee signaled Gai to hold back and with a glance to Tsunade his smile returned as he concentrated.

"TOMON RELEASE!" Lee yelled out.

'_Hold it!'_ Lee thought as he shook violently and closed his eyes. _'Hold it! Pull it together!'_

"KEIMON RELEASE!" He screamed as his eye snapped open.

Lee concentrated furiously. He had spent months and months working with Tsunade on this. He was still hopeless when it came to manipulating chakra in order to do even the most basic jutsu that required any sort of fine control outside of his body. They had discovered two areas where he cold manipulate chakra though. Internally, it was nothing new that he could vastly increase his strength and subsequently his speed and attack power. With Tsunades help though, and a lot of hard work he had learned how to focus that internal energy in order to reinforce his entire body, muscles, tendons, bones, even his internal organs and blood vessels to a degree. That allowed him to access the gates with far less damage to himself than when he had fought Gaara. They had also made a rather surprising discovery when it came to manipulating chakra externally. When it came to sheer, raw and powerful elemental manipulation Lee could in fact use basic elemental attacks. Granted there was nothing subtle about what he could do nor was there any degree of finesse regarding Lee's elemental manipulation. If you ever needed a sledge hammer to swat a fly though, Lee's elemental attacks fit the bill.

Lee looked to his friend. Naruto was no fly though and even a powerful sledge hammer might not be enough. He repositioned the seal slightly, luckily he had a bit more than just a sledge hammer.

"Raiton Geki!" Lee screamed out as he pumped a phenomenal amount of his chakra into his hand, thrust his arm forward and yellow light suddenly emanated from his hand.

Everyone except Tsunade looked on in complete shock as a bolt of lightening arced away from Lee and flashed to Naruto, the very air seeming to crackle loudly with its energy. The Hokage smiled. Naruto although stunned for a moment at the sight of Lee using any sort of technique recovered quickly and built up his own elemental wind counter. The blast of wind flew forward and easily deflected the bolt of lightening, causing it to impact the ground and leave a scorch mark.

Lee frowned, it was an impressive looking attack but aiming it was haphazard at best. More often than not the bolt would shoot off at an angle and it could be quite dangerous to his own teammates in a fight. The only likely combat effectiveness it truly held then, would be if his opponent fell over laughing. If he ever managed to build up enough of a charge to do more than knock someone out he wouldn't be able to use it such situations like this with a friend lying under his target. Still frowning he dodged right and disappeared. He knew that lightening was weak against air but it was one of his primary elements and he had hoped that he might catch Naruto by surprise. His training so far had given him one more element to play with though.

"Doton Ha!" Lee yelled as he pushed a tremendous amount of chakra into the ground causing a rough wave of rippling earth to flow towards Naruto and Hinata.

Lee vanished again as the ground beneath Naruto shook violently.

"Doton Iwa Geki!" Lee screamed pushing his chakra even further as several large rocks seemed to actually condense out of his chakra in midair and shot off towards Naruto.

Narutos wind lashed out again with a wave of his hand, easily deflecting the flying stones. Naruto glanced around trying to lock onto the once again vanished form of Lee. Considering the last two attacks Naruto never expected Lee to close in with a close range attack without trying a few more mid range attacks. Unfortunately Lee had other plans.

The red skinned Rock Lee appeared directly in front of Naruto and not even the greater speed given to Naruto with his two tailed form was enough to block Lee from slapping the small square of paper onto his forehead.

Naruto screamed and suddenly the seal on his stomach began pulsing even brighter. There was one more massive pulse of white light that sent Lee flying once again. The red chakra then became obviously dimmer than the white and the white was dimmer than the blue but the cycle of colors was growing even more frantic. One of Narutos tails faded leaving him with just a single tail once again. Hinata looked up stunned as Naruto managed to continue fighting the suppression seal somehow. She gasped as she saw the seal on his stomach flash one more time with that bizarre black energy. It seemed to be some sort of strange chakra, strange even for Naruto. A low growl resonated throughout the stadium as Naruto bent over clutching the sides of his head before he arced his back and then stood upright, to once again howl.

The seal on his forehead suddenly burst into flames and disappeared.

The white energy flared back and suddenly took on a tinge of pink. Hinata knew that this had to stop as she saw the energy near his remaining tail begin to bubble as the beginnings of his second tail started to re-form. She sat up and fought past the pain of her raging headache. Her eyes locked onto Narutos chakra network surrounding his naval and the pulsing seal that held the Kyuubi. Her hand suddenly lashed out as she struck forward with her new juken pulse attack and in an instant she had made two complete strobe sweeps, seemingly gently caressing his stomach as she shut down every one of the tenketsu surrounding the seal.

Naruto faltered and fell to his knees in front of her. The second tail vanished before it had fully formed and the white chakra dimmed. Hinata saw what looked like a red flame slowly growing just behind Narutos naval and knew she only had a few precious moments before Naruto would manage to start reopening his tenketsu with the remaining power he still had. She edged forward, wrapped her arms around him and stared into his eyes.

"Stop. Please, for me, just stop." Hinata looked at him as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Hinata-chan." Naruto softly replied as the white shroud of energy vanished and he collapsed into her arms, his breathing ragged and he began to shake slightly as he slowly closed his eyes.

'**Bitch!'** Hinata heard the voice of the Kyuubi as if it were a great and growing distance away, somehow she knew it meant her and that it wasn't happy.

Hinata gasped as the link connecting her to Naruto vanished much like the white chakra. She wasn't sure but she could have sworn she heard the Kyuubi chuckle faintly for just a moment as she felt Narutos presence seemingly fade despite the fact that she was holding him.

"Hey are you o.k.?" Hinata asked, her voice just above a whisper.

"Yeah, give me a minute." Narutos eyes fluttered open as he replied with his own whisper. "I think I'm just about finished though. What about you?"

"Probably best if I stop too." She looked at him sadly, neither one of them really wanted to give the win to the other team.

She slowly stood up, frowning as she felt her blood caked in her hair. She looked down and with a smile she reached down and offered her hand to Naruto. His eyes shined as he looked into her eyes and he grabbed her hand. She tightened her grip and helped him stand.

"Probably best if you stop eh?" He said with a smirk.

"Well neither one of us is any good at giving up now are we?" She smiled herself.

"With you, I feel I can do anything." He stated softly and his smile got slightly larger as a faint tinge of red entered her cheeks.

"Well you're going to have to depend on me. Since you let go of the shroud and something tells me that the damn fox isn't going to be very helpful right now. So there's likely no way you'll be able to spin open your tenketsu that I just closed." She whispered.

"Yeah I can't feel much usable chakra, looks like practically no jutsu for me. Good thing I can lean on you." He squeezed her hand slightly and they both turned to face their friends.

Hinata glanced around. She felt that there were only four left that they had to worry about. Lee was the closest and likely most dangerous. It was a toss up between TenTen and Shino she figured as to who she had to worry about after Lee. Even though Sai was probably the least exhausted of them all she figured that he would continue his lackluster performance. Even if he didn't she felt that she could deal with anything he'd shown so far. Sakura, Kiba and Shikamaru were all still awake and Sakura was still standing but Hinata judged that none of them posed any real threat to her now.

Lee suddenly staggered and the red color of his skin faded as he stumbled and fell to his knees. Oddly enough he was still smiling, just not as much as Hinata.

Tsunade suddenly appeared in front of the two of them, looking them both over carefully. She nodded approval at them as they held each others hand

"I'm going to call this one a draw." She suddenly yelled out with a smile as looks of relief popped up on everybody's faces.

"Thank you but Hinata-chan can kick the ass of everyone still standing." Naruto said firmly.

"That would not surprise me but this whole fight was for my benefit and I think I've seen enough. You both impressed me greatly, you two make one hell of a team." Tsunade said.

"Thank you Godiame Tsunade-sama." Hinata said with a bow.

"Enough of that formal stuff, you can both come with me now." Tsunade said as she leaped back up to the Kage seating area.

Naruto and Hinata quickly followed her and continued on as Tsunade opened a hidden door. The three of them entered and Tsunade closed the door behind them.

"What's up?" Naruto asked, slightly apprehensive since he had never seen this room and being suddenly separated from everyone else wasn't helping.

"That was all very impressive Naruto but you are never to use that white chakra technique ever again." Tsunade said as she turned and looked sternly at him.

"WHAT!" Naruto screamed out as his eyes opened wide.

"I'm serious, consider it the ultimate kinjutsu for you. There's simply too great of a chance that the Kyuubi will figure out how to get around the seal if you ever use the white chakra ever again. That first time out in wind country you apparently took the fox by surprise. This time it made an attempt to escape. Because of its unusual nature this white chakra is apparently not affected by the seal the way the Kyuubi's chakra is. Luckily for all of us, it seems that the only way the white chakra can be generated is if you initiate and mold both your own and the Kyuubi chakra into the white chakra. Even though you retain more of yourself in your white chakra state the demon still has some influence over you. If you ever attempt to use the white chakra again the Kyuubi will likely attempt to burn out the seal and escape. Not only will that mean your own death but it will most likely be the death of everyone around you for miles." Tsunade finished speaking as she looked to Naruto softly.

Narutos shoulders sagged. Once again he had come up with something unique and so incredibly powerful there was a good chance that nobody on the planet could touch him if he mastered it, yet it was denied him. Even worse he actually agreed with Tsunade about it. He stole a glance to Hinata and his sadness deepened. She was still here with him and he was sure that they were still 'together' but with the link gone he couldn't feel her presence and warmth the way he had these past few weeks. He was beginning to think that he had lost more this day than he had gained.

A/N – yeah I know Hinata got the short end of the stick, keep in mind she was unconscious through most of this chapter. I was tempted to continue the fight, mostly between Hinata and TenTen but it seemed about right to end the fight here.


	20. Chapter 20 fin

Ch

A/N – This will be the final chapter of 'Fury'.

Ch. 20.

Naruto stood there in dismay, looking at the floor as Tsunde's words sank in. He grimaced as he began to realize that she was right. The damn fox just might be able to use the white chakra enough to allow the damn thing to escape. He let out a rather loud sigh as he looked back up to the Hokages soft brown eyes. There was a silent exchange of understanding between them. Tsunade nodded her head slightly and gave him a sad smile. Hinata reached out tentatively and softly clasped his hand with her own. As he glanced over to her he smiled slightly.

'_At least its not a total loss.'_ He thought to himself.

"Well that's the important thing. I do expect a full written report on both matches though. You know as well as I do that despite your abilities, even working together as well as you both did, you guys should have lost that second fight, in fact you should have lost it relatively quickly. I have my own opinions but I want to see what you two think. Hinata, I'd like to look over that gash in your head."

"As you wish Lady Tsunade-sama." Hinata said as she walked over to the Hokage.

Tsunade gave her a quick once over and applied a minor healing jutsu to the gash in the back of Hinatas head.

"There's a sink hidden in that cabinet that you can use to wash the blood out of your hair."

"T-thank you Lady Tsunade." Hinata said tiredly as Tsunade raised her eyebrow at the small stutter and then looked to Naruto.

"The link is gone." Naruto said sadly as he looked to the floor.

"That's interesting." Tsunade said softly.

"It was the Kyuubi." Hinata said as she finished washing her blood from her hair and started drying it with a towel hanging inside the cabinet.

"Hmm, interesting, I definitely want that in those reports. For now though, get out of here. Go join your friends and all of you should go out to lunch together." Tsunade said as she began pushing them towards the door.

"Hey are you buying?" Naruto asked.

"Not this time kiddo." Tsunade laughed as she followed them out.

Naruto looked around and saw that everyone was there. He had spaced out a bit and had forgotten about Kakashi, Yamato and Jiraiya but they were back and unharmed. The white chakra seemed to have no side effects when it touched people unlike the red Kyuubi chakra. Naruto sighed in relief. Looking down to the arena floor he saw that all of their friends were down there. Sakura was helping the still smiling Lee stay on his feet. The only ones that didn't look like they had been a fight were Shino and of course Sai.

With a shimmer Tsunade disappeared and reappeared next to Lee and started scanning him using several medical jutsu techniques.

"Not bad Lee, not bad at all. You're going to need more work though, a lot more work and I think we should start on a third element for you."

Lee's expression shifted from its previous happy exhaustion to full on wide eyed surprise for a brief moment before a huge smile erupted on his face.

"Thank you Godaime Hokage-sama!" He said with a deep bow.

--ooo--

Hours later after a surprisingly quiet lunch with everyone Naruto and Hinata spent subdued afternoon of the two of them working on the report for Tsunade. Finally finishing as the evening began, exhaustion fell upon them. Naruto and Hinata were once again dozing on the couch at the guest suite while holding hands. Hinata had her head on Narutos shoulder and was fading in and out of consciousness. Kurenai was sitting across from the two of them reading a book. Neither of the young ninja noticed but Kurenai suddenly stopped reading and her eyes turned to the door. A few moments later there was the faintest sound of a key being inserted into the lock before the knob turned and the door opened to reveal Tsunade and Hiashi. Kurenai's eyes darted to Naruto and Hinata as a smile began to form on her face.

'_This ought to be funny.'_ Kurenai thought to herself.

Oddly enough Naruto was the first to look up to see the two enter the suite. At first he didn't react as his gaze slowly shifted from Tsunade to Hiashi. As his eyes locked onto the sight of Hinatas father though his heart quite literally skipped a few beats and he felt as though his blood had started to freeze. Sensing something wrong from Naruto as a spasm passed through his hand Hinata snapped fully awake and she looked to the door. Seeing her father enter the room caused a similar reaction in her that Naruto was going through. Kurenai observing her two temporary room mates chuckled at their obvious discomfort.

Before the two visitors could get very far into the room both of the young ninja leaped to their feet as their faces colored a bright red. Naruto looked at Tsunade and thought she had one of her odd expressions of irritation mixed with confusion. He didn't think there were many other people, other than himself anyway, who could get her to such a state. He immediately became rather uneasy. Hinata focused on her father and she was confused by his look of smug satisfaction. She and Naruto had bested everything the Hyuga representatives could throw at them. Her father in particular had been rather embarrassed when Naruto had quite literally planted him in the ground.

Tsunade's eyes locked onto the scroll sitting in the center of the table surrounded by a scattered mass of notes. It was easy to see that a surprising number of the scraps of paper were written in Narutos handwriting but there looked to be a nearly equal number written in Hinata's neat flowing handwriting.

"I take it that is the report I asked for?" The Hokage spoke breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Hinata stood even straighter at attention somehow as her face took on a slight pink flush and she glanced from Tsunade to her father before going back to Tsunade.

"Hai, Godaime Tsunade-sama." The young woman said as she bowed.

"Relax will you already Hinata. It's after hours so to speak and we're not in my office. Can you please call me Tsunade." The older blond woman said with a sigh.

"Y-yes Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade rolled her eyes slightly but was smiling. Her smile faltered slightly as her eyes tracked down to Naruto as he plopped back down on the couch and rubbed his eyes.

"Naruto! I was hoping that all the time you've spent with Hinata would have improved your manners more than this."

"Come on already baa-chan. It's late and we had a rough day." Naruto grumbled.

"You're hopeless, it's not even 8:00 yet. All right then give me a quick summary on your fights then." Tsunade said as she picked up the scroll.

The two teens glanced at each other and Naruto took the lead.

"Well the first fight was easier than it looked because the Hyuga simply weren't effectively working together. Neji really wasn't interested in fighting at all. Hiashi was more interested in seeing what we could do. The elder badly underestimated us and Hanabi was very badly unsettled by both Hinata's change in attitude and the counters I thought up to overcome the Byakugan. Another big factor in our victory over the Hyuga was me defeating Neji, Hiashi and the elder separately the day before. A good nights sleep is all I need most times to completely recover I doubt they can say the same. If they had a week to recover it might have been a different match. Although I think they still would have lost. We figure that the elder was also in some sort of state of denial over losing to me. He was a little too reckless when me and Hinata fought them. Couple those factors with the incredible synergy Hinata and I had between the link and what we estimate to be around four or five years worth of training together using the clone training technique Kakashi-sensei developed and they didn't stand a chance. We go into much deeper detail in our report but that was the basics." Naruto's grin grew a bit as he finished.

"Sounds good, please just tell me that Hinata wrote up the final report. I'd rather not get a headache from reading an extensive report in your handwriting. Now about the second fight." Tsunade chuckled and Narutos smile faltered.

"Well much of our success there has more to do with the half hearted nature some of our opponents displayed coupled with a few mistakes on their part and a good bit of luck for us. Kiba badly underestimated us in the very beginning which seemed to set the pace for the rest of the match even though the others really didn't underestimate us." Hinata started off.

"Also we got very lucky with the mental hammering Ino got from the damn fox. That managed to not only take her out but Chougi as well. If they had coordinated Chougi, Kiba and most especially TenTen from the beginning they might have actually beat us fairly quickly. We also took unfair advantage of Lee's feelings for Sakura which was a serious blow to their offense. The big surprise to me was that Shikamaru wasn't able to get the entire group to work together from the beginning. Like Hinata said before I think that was mostly due to Kiba rushing in at the very beginning. We both think that he may be trying to show he is as good a chuunin as Shikamaru and therefore wouldn't listen to Shika. Oh and Sai seemed to be intentionally useless. We were both very worried about Shino but he seemed content to gather information and defer to Shikamaru. When he finally pulled his trump card of that massive summoning we scored another lucky jackpot when the bugs wouldn't come near me." Naruto said with a smile.

"Well that's a bit rough but I'll stop you both there." Tsunade said as she reached down and plucked the scroll off of the table.

"Thank you Tsunade-sama." Hinata said with a bow.

"Thanks!" Naruto echoed as he grinned.

"I believe that leaves what Hiashi wished to talk to you two about." Tsunade smirked as the two ninja suddenly looked uncomfortable again.

"Thank you Tsunade-sama." Hiashi said as he bowed his head to Tsunade.

The room became quite silent for a moment before Hiashi slowly reached into his jacket and carefully pulled out a white scroll that had a faint silvery design on it. Hinata's eyes widened considerably as she looked at the scroll.

"Is that…" She paused as she stared at her father.

"It's not what it looks like." Hiashi said with a smile as he handed the scroll to his daughter.

Hinata felt her heart rate quicken as her hand shook slightly before she calmed herself and slowly opened the scroll. Despite her fathers words she couldn't look past the fact that it looked very much like a bethroal contract scroll. Her look of shock slowly faded as she began to read the scroll and was quickly replaced by a look of confusion mixed in with a bit of irritation.

"This doesn't really say anything that isn't already true." She finally said as she looked at her father.

"That is not really true. It states that Naruto is considered to be a suitable suitor for you with approval of the Hyuga clan for you two to continue dating."

"Wait…what? I thought we were already dating?" Naruto stated, obviously confused.

"We are." Hinata said softly as she glowered at her father and a hint of steel crept into her voice. "Now we simply have the permission of the Hyuga elders to continue. As if I needed such, some of the elders should be told that times are different and I make my own decisions regarding who is suitable for me."

"Hinata, please do not become upset at this. I had to argue quite hard to get this much. In time things will be much clearer but for now take this a small victory." Hiashi replied softly.

Hinata narrowed her eyes as she studied her father. To be honest she was more confused than angry, his apparent role in all of this was very surprising. Naruto nudged her a bit.

"Hinata, it's really not important to us is it?" Naruto asked.

"No, not really, simply strange and irritating, I think."

"Well I'm sure that things will be clearer in time. Seeing that the odd link between the two of you is no longer present you are expected home tonight. I believe about an hour would be all you need to gather your belongings here and return home." Hiashi said with an odd smile.

"Sorry guys but with the link gone I really can't justify allocating this space for the three of you." Tsunade said softly.

"As you wish, Tsunade-sama." Naruto replied, standing and bowing, completely stunning the Hokage for a moment until she caught sight of his smile as he stood.

With a quick set of goodbyes, both Hiashi and Tsunade left.

Hiashi and Tsunade left the complex together in silence. It didn't take long before Tsunade glanced back to the building they had left, that was now quite a distance away.

"That was a rather interesting action on your part." Tsunade said softly.

"To be honest and fair, they do make a good match. One of the biggest hurdles with the Hyuga elders wasn't his lack of a respectable family, I do not believe that any of them know about his link to the Fourth, but rather his lack of financial assets. Although you will most certainly not be able to ever get any of them to admit to that. I was able to convince them that with the way he uses his shadow clones he will likely become extremely wealthy. They had a hard time believing that he can create and maintain a thousand clones for an entire day. Once I convince them that was true the sharp ones quickly figured out that he could potentially earn three years worth of money in a single day. Although I doubt he'll ever manage to earn that much in a single day he does have incredible potential to secure his financial future. That is not even taking into account who his father is and the potential political advantage that fact could be to whatever family he marries into. Although all of this isn't easy, she is my first daughter after all. Part of me was relieved years ago that she seemed to have no interest in dating."

"You know, if you showed those feelings of yours for her even occasionally things could have been a lot different in your life. It might even be possible that less people would think you were a complete asshole."

Hiashi sighed. "I certainly made a lot of mistakes. After her mother died it was simply too easy to bury myself into the role of clan head. For years it pained me to even look at her. Hanabi may look more like their mother physically but even before their mother died it was so easy to see my wife in Hinata. Her voice, her mannerisms, her quiet grace and most especially her kindness, Hinata is so much like her mother in those ways it pained me to even look at her for many years. I think if I hadn't pushed her away I would have likely taken my own life in grief. After Hizashi died I clung desperately to my wife, only to lose her two years later. After that I simply couldn't bring myself to allow anyone in my heart, not even my own children, Hinata especially.

The two continued on in silence. It was rare that anyone ever caught a glimpse of this part of Hiashi and Tsunade didn't want to spoil the moment.

--ooo--

A little more than an hour later Naruto entered his apartment and frowned. He and Hinata had escorted Kurenai home. The two of them had been very quiet as he walked her home as well and their goodbye had been very subdued, he thought as he stood in his kitchenette. His apartment was oddly quiet in a way that he had never really noticed before. He shuffled around a bit before he found himself in his bedroom getting ready to go to bed. Despite being tired to the point of exhaustion he spent nearly an hour lying in bed staring at the ceiling. He was confused and frustrated feelings of loss and happiness. Despite the sadness he felt over losing the link with Hinata he knew that their relationship, if he could call it that, was actually on much more solid ground. Thanks to Hiashi of all people. He spent nearly another hour lying there with his eyes closed. His mental focus unusually sharp as he felt for the link and continuously failed to sense anything. Just as sleep finally claimed him he thought he smelled the faintest trace of lilacs and almost, just barely felt her calming presence. His very last thought as his consciousness shutdown came from his cynical nature that half convinced himself that he had imagined it but he still fell asleep with a smile.

Across the village in the Hyuga complex Hinata was going through a similar set of mental gyrations in her own bedroom. She found herself pacing slowly back and forth past her bed. It was where she belonged and not where she wanted to be. Her face flushed slightly and her lips descended into a small frown. That was certainly not a proper line of thought she mused to herself as she shut off the light and climbed into bed. Much like Naruto she spent an hour staring up into the darkness as her thoughts of the past few weeks raced around in her head. She frowned again as she closed her eyes and began meditation exercises. Again like Naruto she spent nearly and hour trying to feel the link that was gone. Just before she drifted off to sleep she thought she smelled just a hint of miso ramen and a whisper of his energetic life force. She also fell asleep with a smile.

--ooo--

The next day.

Hinata stood in one of the clan training areas. Sweat poured off of her and she trembled slightly. She had been out there for a few hours now and become more and more frustrated the longer she worked.

"Lady Hinata." Neji's voiced echoed through the enclosed area.

"One moment Neji-kun." Hinata stated.

Neji stood there and waited. Hinata took a deep slow breath and began pushing her chakra. An instant later she was spinning, performing a text book perfect Hakkeshou Kaiten. Neji's eyes widened as Hinata continued to maintain the Kaiten for longer than he had ever seen her do so, other than the times she could tap into Narutos chakra. Neji was rather surprised to see Hinata continue with the Kaiten for a full thirty seconds. She stopped quickly but he could tell from her slight tremors that she had been pushing herself.

"That was rather impressive." Neji stated causing Hinata to frown.

"It was only thirty seconds." She said the frustration obvious in her voice.

"It is impressive. That is more than double the longest you were able to maintain that jutsu before you were linked to Naruto. Your chakra reserves have increased dramatically over the past few weeks."

"That may be true but it feels like I have hardly anything now." She sighed.

"His chakra reserves are incredible aren't they?"

"I don't think anyone really has any idea. Kakashi-san has developed a training technique for him that is dramatically increasing his chakra stores. It's almost like a vast sea of power, even without tapping directly into the fox he has more chakra than anyone I've ever encountered or even heard about."

"Well at least still have him right?" Neji asked with a smile.

"Yes." Hinata said softly with a smile as her cheeks colored slightly.

"The two of you are very good together." Neji replied as he turned and left her to her own thoughts.

Later that day.

Naruto was off in the training area he had been working in the past several weeks. The waterfall Yamato-sensei had created was still flowing. For the first time in all those weeks he was alone, he had spent the past few hours . With a large sigh he decided he might as well continue. He quickly formed a typical Rasengan. He stared at the spinning orb of chakra as it spun in his hand for a few moments. He closed his eyes and felt the swirling energy in his hand and stood there for a moment as he began to concentrate. From this point on this jutsu was his and his alone. Kakashi, Jiraiya not even the Yondaime who created the original Rasengan could match him here.

A thin grayish white razor thin ring formed around the edge of the blue orb. Four triangles slowly grew out of the ring and began to slowly spin around the sphere. The triangles became white as they grew to about 5 centimeters and their tips began to curve slightly. Naruto opened his eyes and smiled as he watched the Fuuton Rasengan while it seemed to almost lazily spin in his hand. He closed his eyes and concentrated further. Four additional blades of wind grew out of the Rasengan as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. The ends of all eight blades flattened out becoming rectangular instead of triangular curves.

'Damn this doesn't feel quite right but it is close.' He thought to himself as he tried to remember exactly what he did to turn his Rasen-Shuriken into a shield when he fought against Hiashi and the Hyuga elder.

The modified Fuuton Rasengan wavered and Narutos face contorted into a snarl as he fought to keep the swirling energy under control. The blue and white spinning mass settled down and he began to pour more power into it. The blades grew longer and began to spin faster. Naruto began to smile slightly. Suddenly there was a flicker of light that didn't belong and his smile vanished. Before he could react further the entire jutsu destabilized and sort of exploded in his hand. Although basically unhurt as the wind and his chakra washed over him, it had generated enough force to knock him on his ass.

A few hours later he was beat, bruised and extremely frustrated. He had no trouble with the Fuuton Rasengan but somehow he had lost the ease of manipulating it. He couldn't even push it into a full Rasen-Shuriken without the help of a clone or two. He breathed out in a great sigh. At least his shadow clones were still working properly. Everything else though, or rather everything he had developed with Hinata just wasn't working properly. He sighed in frustration as he leaned over tiredly.

"You do realize that after watching you for the past half hour or so I believe I just might be able to beat you on my own." Neji said as he walked into the clearing.

"You wish." Naruto said with a smile as he straightened up.

"It's not the same without her is it?" Neji stated softly.

"Not even close. I've always thought I could bull my way through anything the world threw at me on my own. It might not be easy but I just don't stay down and I refuse to give up. With her at my side though I feel like not only can nothing stop us but I don't think anything can even slow us down."

"Always remember that Naruto." Neji said as he smiled one of his exceedingly rare smiles before turning and leaving.

--ooo--

More than a week later.

The group stood just outside one of the gates of Konoha.

"We sure got stuck with some lousy weather, huh?" Kakashi said.

"Everyone move out!" Naruto suddenly yelled out.

"Actually I think the rain might help our resident hothead cool off." Kiba said with a slight grin as he sat on Akamaru's back.

Silence descended on the group of eight ninja and only the sound of the rain could be heard. Hinata sadly looked to the grim look of determination Naruto wore and she gave a soft sigh. Shino, Kiba and Akamaru were the only ones who heard her but they said nothing. She knew there was only one thing on his mind right now, getting Sasuke back. In a moment the group vanished into the wood.

A/N – The end of Fury.

Well, one more time my apologies for the delays.

Hopefully I didn't mix up anything here and I posted the right chapter. I've been switching over to a new computer and using Open Office instead of Word over the past couple of months. Somewhere along the line I wound up with two versions of this chapter. I'm shot right now and will likely be asleep shortly so I only gave this one a quick once over. I was starting to think if I didn't post this tonight it might have been a few more months before I got back to it. So please excuse any errors that I missed.

I had originally planned on making this last chapter longer but some of the stuff I was thinking about adding started seeming silly. I actually deleted a few thousand words for a scene after the fights that were just wrong. This final chapter is a bit anti-climatic, o.k. more than a bit but I've been sitting on this chapter for literally a few months now and I just can't seem to get anywhere with it.

I had also planned on ending this with that scene at the end of manga 354 since the time I first read it. I do have a few really vague ideas that could be worked into a sequel but to be honest I doubt that will happen any time soon. I would also like to do a 'Fury' spin-off that revolves around Lee before I think about any sort of sequel to 'Fury'.

When I first started this story I was originally going to call it 'The Fifth Tail' and the first appearance of the white chakra was going to have Naruto in a five tailed state. I couldn't really tell why I changed it but I thought some of you might find that interesting. Originally I started the story with what is now chapter four, that is why the first three chapters were rushed. I never really had any sort of overall plot outline for this story and was originally figuring it'd simply be something of a one shot with what became chapter four. Pretty much most of the story has been done 'by the seat of my pants' so to speak. I do have a vague idea or two that could lead to a sequel to this story but to be honest at this time that may not happen. I've got another epic Naruto story in the works that I'm trying to flesh out a little more in my head before trying to turn it into something readable. That one will hopefully be longer than 'Fury' and a bit more planned, well for me anyway. I'm also planning on finishing 'Dark Endings' and '20th' first though.

Anyway thank you everyone for your time in reading this story. My writing is likely to be dropping dramatically over the next few month, major life change type of thing, we'll see how it goes..

T.J.


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